


on n'a qu'une vie

by tamayura (LaPersonnaliteInconnu)



Series: Life After the Happy Ending [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Suga and Oikawa face off once again, University, manly fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 38,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4781117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaPersonnaliteInconnu/pseuds/tamayura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daichi and Suga meet their new neighbours. Then they can't seem to get rid of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Neighbours

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written for my personal prompt "neighbours" and revolves around the adorable duo that are essentially the parents of Karasuno - Daichi and Suga!! *cheers* And because Oikawa is an evil cinnamon roll that gets irked by Suga's "refreshing"-ness, I decided to pit DaiSuga against IwaOi. Because I can. And because I really, really want to.
> 
> The title translates to "we have but one life" [A/N: If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, perish the thought :p] from "La vie est si courte (Vivre pour cet instant)" by The Garlics. 
> 
> All these wonderful characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei.

Suga paused in the entryway of their apartment to slid his shoes on.

"Do you have your keys, Daichi?" he called out, toward the kitchen.

"Let me check," Daichi yelled back. Then he appeared in the hallway leading to the kitchen, dangling his set of the apartment keys in his right hand with a smile. "Got them."

"Good," Suga said, watching to make sure Daichi put the keys in his bag and zip it up. This was the beginning of their first day as official university students. He would really like to prove that they were mature enough to be entrusted with the responsibility of at the very least, not losing their keys on the first day and having to trouble their landlady to let them in.

Having laced up his Converse, he waited for Daichi to finish putting his shoes on from where he was sitting on the raised floor of their hallway. He put his feet down in the genkan when he was done tying his laces. Suga offered him a hand up, which Daichi took with a smile, and pulled him so that they ended up in each other's personal space bubble. Daichi lifted his free hand and slid into the soft strands of Suga's hair to pull him in as Suga's hands reciprocated by going around Daichi's middle between his shirt and his jersey and tugging him in as well for a sweet "have a good day" kiss.

They broke apart and Daichi opened the door, chivalrous as ever and Suga stepped out. As Daichi turned to lock the door, Suga leaned against the banister. Since their apartment was at one end of the floor, they only had one neighbour.

"We should go over and greet the neighbours sometime," Suga commented idly, glancing over at the nameplate on the apartment beside. He mouthed the name silently, reading the kanji. The name was familiar.

"Hey, Daichi," he called out, as Daichi turned around from putting his key away. "Didn't we play against someone with that-?"

Suga was cut off by their neighbour's door opening, and a familiar figure stepped out.

"Ah, Iwaizumi-san, isn't it?"

Iwaizumi jerked in surprise and looked over to his left as he stepped out of his apartment. He looked at them blankly for a second before there was a hint of recognition.

"Oh, are you guys from Karasuno?" He asked.

"Yeah," Suga smiled cheerfully. "I'm Sugawara Koushi and this is Sawamura Daichi," he said, by way of introduction. "This is such a coincidence."

"Yeah. I'm Iwaizumi Hajime, by the way," he said, feeling like he had to reply in kind and give them his whole name.

"Are you going to the university here?" Daichi asked.

"Yeah, they have the best volleyball team in the prefecture," Iwaizumi answered, hands in his pockets. "I'm guessing that's the reason you guys are here too?"

They nodded.

"Are you taking the bus? We are, if you want to join us." Daichi said, stuffing his hands in pockets of his jersey. It was still a little chilly, the last lingering grasp of winter.

"Sure," Iwaizumi nodded. "I'm just waiting for-"

He was cut off with a single complaining wail emanating from his apartment: "Iwa-chan~! I hope you haven't left already. I was serious about what I would do to you if I have to brave the perils of public transit by myself."

"Oikawa," Iwaizumi said, rubbing his hand over his face in exasperation. It was anyone's guess if he was just finishing his previous sentence or bemoaning the existence of his best friend.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Suga vaguely remembered Kageyama explaining to him once why he had jumped to block Iwaizumi in the heat of match. There had really been no indication that Oikawa-san would toss to Iwaizumi, but Kageyama had said that when driven to a corner, Oikawa-san would toss to the one person he trusted above all else - his childhood best friend, Iwaizumi Hajime.

While at the time Suga had been a bit concerned that this was an indication that Kageyama was turning into another Oikawa, using people's weakness against them to win a point, he needn't have worried. Kageyama had Hinata to set him on the right path.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

"Is that Oikawa-san?"

Iwaizumi glanced up. He sighed.

"Yeah. Apparently, I can't buy an apartment without the complimentary ANNOYING BEST FRIEND," he said, yelling the three words into the apartment. He offered an apologetic look at Suga and Daichi. They waved it away, amused by Iwaizumi's and Oikawa's antics.

An indignant gasp came from within, followed by: "How rude, Iwa-chan, how rude!" There was small bang and a safe "ow!" from within.

"You ok?" Iwaizumi called out, looking inside the open door.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Oikawa replied, his voice sounding closer. He finally came out and shut the front door behind him, saying: "Who were you talking to Iwa-chan? I heard voices." before his gaze focused in like a homing pigeon on Suga's face.

"Refreshing-kun," Oikawa hissed, quite like a story book villain.

"Oikawa-san," Suga greeted, nonplussed.

"Oh, so you're Refreshing-kun!" Iwaizumi said, looking amused. Oikawa narrowed his eyes at him in warning. Iwaizumi ignored it. "You really have this guy a run for his money," he said, clapping his hand down on Oikawa's shoulder. Oikawa looked off to the side, pouting. He didn't know why he ever told Iwa-chan these things if he was only going to regret it in the future.

"What do you mean?" Daichi asked, starting to walk over to the stairs. They could talk on the way to the bus stop.

Iwaizumi fell into step with him, with Suga and Oikawa trailing behind them, both of them smiling, except Oikawa definitely had a more murderous air about him.

"The first time we played you guys officially, Oikawa underestimated Sugawara-san, probably because he was so intent on facing off with Kageyama. He paid dearly for that, as you know," Iwaizumi explained.

"We still won, though, Iwa-chan. See, I can be impressive even when I'm distracted," Oikawa interjected.

Iwaizumi just shot him a raised eyebrow, resisting physical violence for the sake of their new neighbours. He didn't want to scare them off after having just meeting them.

"Anyway, even though we've played you since, Oikawa had never been able to get a proper read on Sugawara-san. And that annoys the volleyball strategist in him," Iwaizumi concluded.

"I take that as a compliment, Oikawa-san," Suga said. "You were quite difficult to deceive."

"Thank you," Oikawa said, charm dripping from his voice. On the inside, his inner strategist raced, trying to fish out any ulterior motives. Suga just smiled innocently.

"Ah, here we are," Daichi said as they reached the bus stop. He moved to stand beside Suga, who turned his smile on him. They stood close, too close to be just friends, Oikawa thought, watching them.

Iwaizumi glanced over and sighed. Oikawa was overthinking again, but he didn't stop him though. Trying to figure out Sugawara-san would probably distract Oikawa from overworking himself through volleyball. Probably. Well anyway, Iwaizumi had succeeded in keeping Oikawa from using volleyball to drive himself into an early grave so far. He was pretty sure he was capable of keeping him alive through university as well. And it seemed likely that he would do so for the rest of their lives as well. He didn't mind the thought of it as much as he probably should.

The bus arrived and they got on. Unfortunately, it was too crowded for all of them to sit together, so they separated into pairs: Daichi and Suga moving to take a seat at the back and Iwaizumi and Oikawa near the front. When they reached the university, they met up temporarily to seeif they were headed in the same direction. Daichi and Suga had classes in opposition directions so they said their goodbyes and left, not before shooting shy smiles at each other.

Iwaizumi actually had his first class of the day with Daichi, but Oikawa told him to go on ahead, that he and Iwaizumi had to do something quickly and that he would catch up. When Oikawa grabbed a handful of his jacket and pulled him along, he followed silently. They stopped at a quiet place, that lay in the shade of a building surrounded by forestry. With his eyes hidden under the fall of his bangs, Oikawa pushed Iwaizumi - who still had tucked his hands into his pockets from earlier - against the side of the building. He cupped his hands around Iwaizumi's face and leaning in, kissed him soundly, mouth moving against his in a sweet gesture.

Iwaizumi let himself be kissed like that for a while before he slid his hands out of his pockets, the left reaching up to gently cup Oikawa's cheek while the right went around to fist itself in the back of Oikawa's jacket and pull his boyfriend impossibly close to him. Oikawa's shoulders were hunched in an uncomfortable manner, being the taller one, but he didn't seem to mind. Finally, he broke the kiss and let his forehead come to a rest on Iwa-chan's shoulder. Iwaizumi let the hand that had lay on Oikawa's cheek slide higher until it was gently caressing his hair. He hooked his chin on Oikawa's shoulder and gazed past it through the canopy of the trees and the warm blue sky.

Oikawa finally drew back, and with the the thumb of one hand absently caressing Iwa-chan's jaw, offered up a genuine smile, face bright and happy.

"Good morning, Iwa-chan."

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Oikawa had already accumulated a fan club by lunch time.

Iwaizumi had found an empty table since his previous class had ended earlier than Oikawa's and had been sitting alone before Daichi and Suga popped up and joined him. They chatted about everything from volleyball to the day's menu, from cats to sleeping and a whole bunch of random stuff that comes from having a conversation with someone you genuinely connect to. Iwaizumi found himself smiling and laughing, grateful to have made two new friends who also happened to his neighbours as well as in a couple of his classes. Iwaizumi had spent so much of his life in Oikawa's orbit that his friendship skills had rusted. He honestly could not remember how to make friends, having pretty much meet the one friend as a kid who introduced him to all subsequent others. So having met Sawamura-san and Sugawara-san all by himself this morning and actually carrying on a conversation with them before Oikawa showed up made him feel proud and capable.

There was a commotion by the entrance of the dining area they were in and Suga and Daichi turned to look. Iwaizumi didn't need to see the unusual number of lovestruck girls and boys to know Oikawa had overdone himself, once again. He was just glad he had picked a four-person table so they wouldn't be plagued by Oikawa's new fanclub.

"Iwa-chan~" an ecstatic voice cooed in his ears, arms sliding past his neck until Oikawa was draped on his back. He placed his head on Iwaizumi's head, his chin nuzzling the crown. A chorus of jealous sighs and gasps and 'who's  _that_  guy?' and 'why's Oikawa-san being so touchy-feely with  _him_?" rose up around them. Iwaizumi ignored everything except Daichi and Suga, and continued eating his lunch as if his boyfriend wasn't doing everything short of peeing on him to mark his territory in front of the whole university.

Oikawa greeted an amused Daichi and Suga before sitting down in the vacant seat beside Iwaizumi and inserting himself neatly into the conversation. Iwaizumi felt a childish bit of annoyance prick at him - he had made friends with Sawamura-san and Sugawara-san  _first_  - before it passed. Perks of being mature enough for two, he guessed. Oikawa continued his usual habit for insinuating himself into Iwaizumi's space like a clingy octopus, with the skinship and eating off his plate and feeding him food from his when he finally got up to buy his lunch. His fan club, although alternatively seething with jealousy and adoration, seemed content to adore from a distance.

"So, do you play any other sports beside volleyball?" Iwaizumi asked, when there was a lull in the conversation.  
  
"Daichi played a bit of baseball in middle school," Suga said, answering for Daichi who has just taken a bite of his sandwich. "But he felt volleyball was more his calling. I've always enjoyed trying out new sports in gym, and I really enjoy playing basketball."

"Ah, so are you up for a challenge then? A bit of good old-fashioned rivalry?"Oikawa asked, leaning forward with his arms folded on the table and a charming smile. Iwaizumi watched him warily out the corner of his eye.

"Sure," Sugawara answered. "What's the challenge?"

"A sport of my choice, right here in the university gym. On Friday, at midnight," Oikawa said dramatically, with a flint in his eye.

"I don't think the gym is open that late," Iwaizumi commented.

"Then on Friday, at at five in the evening," Oikawa corrected dramatically, without missing a beat. Then in his normal voice said: "And you can't chicken out and say you have class, because you don't, I checked."

Suga checked in to see if Daichi had a problem. He didn't. Turning to Oikawa, he said determinedly: "You're on."


	2. The Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a table tennis table. It beckons you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you lose it? The game, I mean.
> 
> Writing a game play-by-play is tedious. I should just leave it up to the great Furudate Haruichi-sensei who does it so well. Probably why I have to contend with simply loving Suga, Daichi and Iwaizumi (Oikawa's an [evil cinnamon roll ](http://psytaku.tumblr.com/post/126692255429/tobioskageyama-haikyuu-boys-the-cinnamon)) but not owning them in any way.

Come Friday, Daichi and Iwaizumi found themselves walking across campus towards the gym. They were chatting about their last class - first year Calculus - as they walked. This first week had mainly been a refresher on differentiation, which they had both done in high school. However, Iwaizumi had had a terrible teacher back in high school so there were a lot of holes in his knowledge.

After they got to the gym, they changed into their gym clothes, each putting their stuff into the gym lockers they had rented for the duration of the year. They did their stretches together, before they walked they walked over to the table tennis area - you couldn't really play two-on-two volleyball, so table tennis had been randomly assigned as the game of choice. There, they discovered that Suga and Oikawa hadn't waited for them and had already started a one-on-one game practice game.

"Oi," Iwaizumi said, walking over to the sweaty red-faced Oikawa, and bonked him lightly on the head with a fist. "Why didn't you wait?"

"I just wanted to have a trial round to warm-up. Then Refreshing-kun proved to be a fast learner," Oikawa said, taking a step back. It had been Suga's turn to serve, but he had paused, ball in hand, when Daichi and Iwaizumi had showed up.

"I'm surprised to see  _you_  getting so competitive," Daichi commented, placing his hand on the small of Suga's back. Oikawa took in their closeness, filling it away for later.

"Your honour was at stake. Since you weren't around to defend yourself, I stepped in as your knight in shining armour," Suga said with a mischievous smile. Daichi raised an inquisitive eyebrow, the thumb of his hand running tiny, comforting circles on Suga's back. Since Suga's body blocked the gesture, Oikawa didn't notice. Suga relaxed, although he was still red in the face and breathing a bit heavily from his impromptu match against Oikawa.

"Thank you, Suga," Daichi said. "I'll remember to return the favour. But why did you have to defend my honour in the first place?"

"He said that he was confident that Iwaizumi-san would beat you in the Calculus class you're taking together. I mean no offense to your intelligence Iwaizumi-san, but Daichi got top marks in our year in Calculus, so I sincerely believe he's going to thoroughly kick your butt," Suga said, with a slight smirk to his smile.

"No offense taken here," Iwaizumi smiled back. Suga had such a really calming presence, it seemed like it would really take a lot to get annoyed with him, much less angry with him, which was a direct contrast to  _someone_  he knew.

That someone was currently pouting, because his Iwa-chan was in agreement with the enemy. So, Iwa-chan just slipped his fingers into Oikawa's hair and massaged it a bit, until he stopped pouting and nearly turned into a contented puddle on the ground. "Thank you for the vote of confidence," Iwaizumi murmured, so that only Oikawa heard. He got a brief nod in answer and let his hand fall from his hair.

Turning to Suga and Daichi, he asked: "So should we do a refresher on the rules so that everyone's on the same page?"

At the nods he got, he began the explanation.

"So it's often the best three of five games that determines the winner. You can play any number of games as long as it's an odd number. If you play seven games, the winner wins the best five of seven. Unlike volleyball, where we play until one team reached twenty-five points, in table tennis, you play until one team reaches eleven points. Like volleyball, if we reach a deuce, i.e. both sides have ten points each, you keep playing until someone pulls ahead with a two-point difference.

"To begin a game, I'm going to use janken to find out who gets to either choose whether they want to serve/receive or which side of the table they want to play on. If they decide to pick the side of the table they want to play on, the other side determines which side serves/receives first. If you want, we can get that out of the way first before I continue with the rest of the rules."

Again, nods all around.

Iwaizumi played against Suga. He threw out scissors which won to Suga's paper. He and Oikawa won the right to choose. They chose to serve first, so Daichi and Suga picked the side of the table they wanted to play on.

Then Iwaizumi picked up the explanation again: "Now that Oikawa and I have decided to serve first, one of us has to be the first server. Knowing Oikawa, he'd want me to go first, so you two have to decide who will be the first receiver."

After a short discussion, Daichi offered to receive first.

"OK, so for the first game, Sawamura-san will receive my serves, and return them to Oikawa, who will hit them to Sugawara-san, who will return them to me and so on until one of us scores a point. Each person gets to serve twice. The order of serving will be the same too:  I serve first, then Sawamura-san, then Oikawa and finally Sugawara-san, and then me again.

"Since we're playing doubles, we have to make sure that when we're serving, the ball bounces once on our quarter, before it goes over the net and bounces on the receiver's side. So if I serve, the ball bounces on my side of the divider," Here, Iwaizumi pointed out the white divider that separated his and Oikawa's side of the table. Then he walked around to where the ball should go and and pressed his finger down on Daichi's side of the table. As he spoke, he walked around to physically point things out. "Then goes here, after which it goes to Oikawa's side and then to Suga and so on. Everyone good so far?"

When he got their acquiescence, he continued: "I'm going to show you how to serve then." With that, he picked up the ball with his free hand and throwing it up gently, brought his paddle in to hit it but stumbled on thin air, yet he hit the ball anyway. He threw a hand down on the table to steady himself. Meanwhile, the ball bounced and flew up. Daichi caught the ball in his free hand.

"Foul, Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi shot him a dirty look.

"Shut up, Trashykawa, I know. And this isn't football, get your facts right," he said straightening up, making sure to keep his distance from the table.

Oikawa just stuck his tongue out at him, mature as a child. Then he took up the explanation.

"So what Iwa-chan just did here was the spectacular example of how you win points. If any part of your opponent's body or clothes touch the table, you win a point. They serve or receive terribly? You win a point. Their ball touches anything other than the table or the net? You win a point. One of your opponents feel like doing everything by themselves like dear Tobio-chan and obstructing the view of the ball, receiving out of turn or anything like that? You win a point."

"So," Oikawa turned to Iwaizumi, canting his hips against the table in a pose of sultry, assured confidence. "Did I get my facts right, Iwa-chan?" He smiled confidently.

"Yeah," Iwaizumi grunted, inwardly susceptible to Oikawa's charms. "Can we play now?"

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

The game commenced well, with only a few mistakes at the beginning. It was the first time Daichi and Suga had really played TT and Oikawa and Iwaizumi were out of practice. But muscle memory helped and Oikawa and Iwaizumi pulled ahead in the first game earning points of off bad serves and receives getting to 5-3 as Daichi and Suga got used to the mechanics of the game. It certainly helped that each of them had teamwork skills ingrained in their skin and their athletic ability to rely on. They learned fast, faster than a novice athlete.

Suga was definitely pulling his weight, using the practice he had gotten from the impromptu game he had played with Oikawa. He had just won the last two points straight, which had only served to annoy Oikawa and spur him to play with renewed determination. Suga just watched this all with his usual smile, belying nothing of his inner thought processes.

Iwaizumi felt he was playing pretty consistently, not taking any crazy risks. This was meant to be casual game after all. He won a point, 6-3. Then he won a point of off when Suga graciously pointed out that Daichi had accidentally touching the table with his free hand. Daichi apologised and the scored changed in Oikawa and Iwaizumi's favour: 7-3.

Oikawa threw himself into earning points from Daichi's serves, bringing the score to 8-3. Suga scored a point for their team, 8-4. Determined to do better when it was his turn to serve Suga, he tried to hit the ball past Suga's reach, but Suga seemed to anticipate this and moved to return the ball comfortably to Iwaizumi. When it came around to Oikawa again, he hit the ball in the same direction by with more force. Suga was unable to stop it after it bounced on his side. Oikawa smiled triumphantly. 9-4. Just two more. There was no way these guys could catch up.

Then he accidentally let a point slid through when Daichi returned the ball to him. 9-5. Well, whatever, a four-point difference was still good.

Then it was Suga's turn to serve and he scored two-points rapid-fire off Iwaizumi, bringing the score up to 9-7, scarily close to catching up. Iwaizumi looked shocked.

"That's amazing, Sugawara-san," he complimented him, genuinely impressed. Suga smiled. Oikawa frowned.

"Thank you, Iwaizumi-san," Suga said, settling into a ready stance.

Before Iwaizumi could throw the ball up to begin his serve, Oikawa drew near and leaned over to whisper in his ear, careful to not let any part of his body touch either Iwaizumi or the table. Just in case Refreshing-kun took it upon him to call it out.

"Don't let me down," he whispered coolly, watching as a smiled twitched across Iwaizumi's profile.

"I won't," Iwaizumi said, without looking at Oikawa. Then he promptly served, Oikawa winning the next point off of Daichi's return while Iwaizumi won them the game by scoring off Suga's return.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

There was a pause as the the two teams switched sides. Oikawa watched, faced tipped as he drank from his bottle, as Suga and Daichi chatted quietly on the other side of the table. Daichi seemed to be apologizing to Suga for his performance while Suga waved it away, cupping Daichi's cheek with his hand in reassurance. That seemed to do the trick as Daichi's face softened with genuine fondness. Oikawa narrowed his eyes, mind pulling the pieces together, wondering how he could use the situation to his advantage.

Iwaizumi unashamedly stared him down.

Oikawa flinched.

"What is it, Iwa-chan? I'm not doing anything, nothing at all," he said, waving his hands about.

"You're totally thinking something devious though. Stop it," Iwaizumi said.

Oikawa threw him a innocent "who me?" look.

"I'm not afraid to punch you," Iwaizumi said in response. He paused to take a swig of water, and a single little trickle dribbled out. Oikawa's concentration was temporarily arrested until Iwaizumi wiped it off with the back of his hand. Oikawa's eyes lifted to meet Iwaizumi's. Iwaizumi continued speaking: "These are the first friends we've made here. Who cares that they were our rivals when we were in high school? Now, they're our friends, our neighbours and possibly, our future teammates. Don't jeopardize things for the sake of getting one over Sugawara-san."

Oikawa looked petulant.

"Fine, I'll try to turn it off but I can't promise anything. I've spent too many years using people's weakness against them for me to just stop at will," Oikawa said, outting his water down before he walked over to the table and picked up his paddle. Iwaizumi came to stand beside as Daichi and Suga took up their positions at the opposite side of the table. "Although I have to say, Iwa-chan, you looked so cool at the end of the game, winning us that final point."

"Baka-kawa," Iwaizumi muttered, as his cheeks pinked.

The second game began as Suga threw the ball up and served.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Oikawa and Iwaizumi played the next game fluidly and in sync, racking up points off returns until the Daichi and Suga were left struggling in their wake, the score 4-0.

Daichi served, and he and Suga managed to keep the ball in play long enough to earn a point. Then Oikawa won a point, restoring the four-point distance as the score changed to 5-1. He was determined to play as fairly as possible, because he knew it would make Iwa-chan happy. But he also really did like winning, so he was going to try (fairly) to keep or better yet, increase the point difference.

Oikawa finished his time serving on a high note. The score was now 7-2 and things were looking up. He was on fire, adrenaline pumping through the veins the way it did when he and Iwaizumi truly connected on the court. Nothing else would ever compare to the feeling of setting the perfect toss that blew away the opposing team's defense. Nothing else would especially compare to the feeling of that toss leaving his hands, watching as the ball arched through the air to his ace, watching Iwa-chan confidently spike his toss. He loved the illicit feeling that ran through his spine when Iwa-chan glancing sideways to meet his eyes in secret acknowledgment as the team they had build together swarmed the ace with congratulatory hugs and pats on the back. Nothing else compared to playing with Iwa-chan. He looked upon Iwa-chan now, all sweaty and primed to attack and he let himself acknowledge the thought for the first time with a wave of possessive affection -  _he's all_ ** _mine_** _._

Suga took note of Oikawa's distraction. He did not know what had caused it, but he took it for the opportunity it presented. He and Daichi won a point, but Iwaizumi made up for Oikawa's distraction by winning the point after. The score was now 8-3.

Oikawa seemed to shake off whatever had distracted him and focused on the game intently, receiving well and serving to score. He and Iwaizumi won the next point on Daichi's serve 9-3.

It was Iwaizumi's turn to serve and Suga received it, expertly seeing a window of opportunity and smacking the ball close towards the center line on Oikawa's side of the table. Oikawa had been expecting him to bounce close to the outer edge and so had to make a last minute dive for the ball. The ball whizzed past the paddle and bounced innocently some ways away. Oikawa followed it with his eyes, before he quickly went over to pick it up. Returning to the table, he locked eyes with Suga, challenge clear in his stance. Suga didn't seem ruffled. The score was 9-4.

Iwaizumi served again, and this time Oikawa won the point, and threw a pointed look at Suga as if to say, " _Well, how do you like that then?_ "

Rather than respond, Suga simply served and shot Oikawa a blank smile when Daichi won them the next point. Oikawa seethed, the score now 10-5.

"Oikawa," Iwaizumi said, being the encouraging one this time. "Don't mind."

Suga served. Oikawa won the game.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Their little game of TT had gain a little audience by the third game. There had been some stragglers during the second game, some gym-goers stopping to watch here and there before going onwards to wherever they had to be. Some of Oikawa's admirers seemed interspersed among the spectators if the excited murmuring and the occasional variation of "Oikawa-san looks so cool when he's playing a sport!" were anything to go by. 

The pause ended soon and the third game began with Oikawa and Iwaizumi feeling a lot more confident. It was apparent in their stances, it was apparent in the look in their eyes. The fearsome nature of how their friendship translated into to sport was truly something to reckon with. Although Suga trusted Daichi and he knew the trust was reciprocated, they had only known each other for three years, and been in a relationship for less than one. It was unreasonable to expect them to have the same level of implicit understanding that thrummed strongly between Iwaizumi and Oikawa. But Suga knew he and Daichi were still capable of giving their new neighbours a run for their money if they truly put their minds to it.

So he had pulled Daichi aside for a chat when they had switched sides before the beginning of the third game.

Oikawa served. Daichi and Suga kept the ball in play when it came time for them to return, waiting patiently for an opening. When the ball came full circle back to Oikawa, he hit it hard towards Daichi. Daichi didn't even flinch. The ball flew past him a sharp angle, without hitting the table.

"Good call," Iwaizumi said, grinning. "Receiver reflexes, huh?"

Daichi smiled back.

"Yeah."

For the first time, the score was in their favour: 0-1.

Oikawa didn't seem upset, just surprised. Suga noted that he seemed to brush the point off as a fluke. He seemed even more reassured as the game progressed and the next two consecutive points went to them, giving them the lead 2-1.

The next time the ball came to Oikawa, he hit it confidently towards the outer edge of the table, but Suga still returned it well to Iwaizumi, who fumbled and hit the ball before it bounced.

"Iwa-chan~" Oikawa chastised.

"Shut up, Oikawa," Iwaizumi muttered, a bit embarrassed. He went over to pick up the ball in silence. It was his serve now.

Daichi won the point, bringing the score to 2-3. Suga watched as a flash of chagrin flitted across Oikawa's face. Then he watched as that chagrin deepened when he won the next point for him and Daichi. They were actually ahead for once 2-4.

The game went back and forth for a while after that, each subsequent point seeming to set Oikawa more on edge, as each side slowly inched forwards but neither staying to far behind.

When Suga served and Oikawa won, confidence crept back in. When Daichi won, Oikawa seemed to take things in stride as if attributing his wins to his superior receiving skills. When Iwazumi won, Oikawa looked proud, as if there was something about Iwaizumi winning that made him personally happy. Then Iwaizumi won twice in a row, bringing the score to 6-5. Oikawa looked so elated and self-satisfied by now that even Iwaizumi flinched when he unexpectedly caught sight of his suddenly cheery face.

The play went back and forth, until they found themselves nearing a deuce 10-9. Oikawa seemed pretty confident that he was going to win this time, despite being so close to a deuce. They had been close to a deuce in the first game, yet Oikawa and Iwaizumi had pulled ahead and won. So, they had reason to be confident.

But that didn't mean that reality was going to be nice and just hand them the game on a silver platter.

Suga won the next point.

Oikawa narrowed his eyes at him.

"Refreshing-kun," he said icily. "I hope you're not planning to be troublesome."

"Not at all," Suga said, with his usual smile. "I just intend to have fun. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" There was perhaps a hint of competitiveness in it but only Daichi knew him well enough to recognize it. He mentally apologized to Iwaizumi-san and Oikawa-san for any future decimation that occurred.

"Right," Oikawa said, not believing one word. 

Iwaizumi sighed, shaking his head in the background. But he was pleased on the inside. Despite worrying that Oikawa might take this competition with Sugawara-san to the extreme (as he was wont to do), he had a feeling that he could trust Sugawara-san to put a stop to things before they got too bad. He just gave off this affectionate, warm air that made it really easy to put your trust in him. Iwaizumi was already cool with Sugawara-san, but he had to pretend to be on Oikawa's side until someone hit him on the head with how much of a sweetheart Sugawara-san really was. Iwaizumi really didn't want to deal with a sulky Oikawa, but he had to take Oikawa's side in this situation - perks of being the bestfriend/boyfriend. The fallout was born to be ridiculous and he would probably have to resort to dogeza as an apology for "consorting with the enemy".

Then Suga won the next point and pushed them into the very situation Oikawa did not want.

Oikawa might have expected an quick game after the easy wins so far, but Suga was onto his tells and Iwaizumi's as well. And now, he had practice on his side.

The score crept along slowly after that, only this time with Daichi and Suga pushing forward and Oikawa and Iwaizumi just barely keeping up.

They were currently at 13-14. It was Daichi's turn to serve. The pace of the game seemed to be in a frenzy by now, with everyone giving their all. Then Iwaizumi returned the ball to Suga, aiming for the far corner. Everyone watched in slow motion, as the ball headed straight for the edge and then at the very last moment, veered off before bouncing on the table and shot straight for the floor. 

Daichi and Suga erupted in cheers and even the little crowd of evening gym-goers that had gathered around them cheered, pulled in by the infectiousness of Suga and Daichi's laughter. They threw their arms around each other and held onto each other tightly in their joy. They pulled back to look at each other, their faces flushed and close. But they were reminded of where they were and of their audience when they were interrupted by Iwaizumi clearing his throat after taking a sip of water. So Daichi and Suga pushed their first instinct away for when they had more privacy and hugged each other tightly once more.

Oikawa just watched from off to the side with a grim expression.

 

∆ ∆ ∆ 

 

The fourth game begins with a fierce competitive air on both sides. The bystanders seemed to have divided on which side to cheer for, and Suga remarked that Oikawa had turned on his usual "play to impress" skills that inadvertently manifested when he had an audience. It had been evident in the way he played volleyball, choosing cool words to inspire his teammates, making flashy services, throwing in impressive dump shots when no one expected it and having just enough of an easy camaraderie with his teammates enough to turn his failures into comic, feel-good moments. He really knew how to sway an audience to boost his team's morale, while making the opposing team feel terrible in comparison.

Oikawa was essentially an evil cinnamon roll. And people besting him brought out his worst.

He was on edge for the first half of the game, antsy as Suga and Daichi surpassing him and Iwaizumi, the score 4-5.

Tension mounted as the score crawled. 5-5, 6-5, 7-5, 7-6, 8-6, 8-7, 8-8 and so on it climbed. A frenzy mounted in the divided crowd, as neither pair seemed inclined to pull too far ahead.

Then Oikawa slipped up when receiving a ball and the score became 8-9. If he slipped up again now, Oikawa would essentially be handing the game over to Refreshing-kum. He had underestimated how well Daichi and Suga would work together, knowing that they hadn't played together much on the official court. But he had an inkling as to where their coordination came from, if it didn't came from the court.

So, for the sake of winning the game, he stuffed the annoying little Iwa-chan that resided in his head into a box, and allowed the small vicious voice that constantly hungered for victory speak for him: "Ne, isn't it great how well it translates into your teamwork?" He said with a sly, confident strike to his pose. Iwaizumi stiffened, sensing that Oikawa was poking a stick at a beehive again. Suga and Daichi stiffened too, feeling uneasy.

"Your rela-," Oikawa began, emanating snideness.

"Oi-," Iwaizumi began, attempting to jump into and stop the social train wreck that was happening right before his eyes.

"Oikawa-san," Suga cut off in a firm voice. Iwaizumi froze. Oikawa's smirk stiffened. Daichi seemed posed and ready to do something, anything, blood thrumming in his veins. "Is this game really worth the consequences?" Suga asked, firmly, his eyes locked onto Oikawa, staring him down.

Oikawa's mouth closed around the abandoned words. Then a moment passed as he appeared to regain control of himself. Head fall forward, his bangs drifting to cover his eyes in shame, he whispered a soft "No".

Their audience seemed confused and quiet murmurs spread. Suga ignored them and continued speaking.

"Good," he said, relaxing a bit. But his voice remained as firm as ever. "Now, I want you to take a chance and trust yourself. Trust yourself to finish this game honestly. Can you do that for me?" He asked softly.

"Yes," Oikawa said, lifting his head up and fixing Suga with a firm look, although he looked close to trembling at the thought of how ready he was to throw his new friends to the dogs - all for the sake of throwing them into disarray so that he could win a petty game.

Suga didn't ask for an apology, yet Iwaizumi looked as if he wanted to force Oikawa to give one anyway. Suga caught his eye and shook his head. Now was not the time.

The game continued.

Oikawa played honestly, just like Suga had asked him too. He and Iwaizumi won the game without it going to deuce this time, and thus, the whole set. But they were subdued winners, letting to let their audience's enthusiasm wash over them with the standard compliments and pats on the back. Suga and Daichi walked over to their where they had kept their stuff and sat down to quietly packed up their stuff.

"Ne," they heard above them. They looked up to see the girl who had spoken. She was dressed in gym clothes and had a mixed group of other college students with her.

"I thought you two did really well. I'm sure you will win next time," she said, with a kind and encouraging smile. "I think we were all really fired up seeing you four play so competitively." She glanced back to see the others nodding, before looking forward and continuing: "I don't know what happened towards the end there, but I'm glad the game was played fairly to the end."

"Thank you," Daichi and Suga said, bowling over by the sincerity of the group. "We will definitely beat those two idiots next time," they smiled to show that all was good. Their fans smiled back and some even stuck around to chat some more as they finished up packing.

After their audience has dissipated to various parts of the gym, Iwaizumi came over, with Oikawa hanging back slightly, gaze veered off to the side.

"I'm so sorry for this idiot," he apologized, bowing deeply. Everyone's eyes widened.

Daichi waved his hands frantically in front of him.

"No, it's okay, you don't have to bow so deep!" he said. He glanced at Suga desperately.

"How about we take this conversation to a more private place?" Suga interjected on his behalf, ever the voice of sensibility. "I believe Daichi knows of a good okonomiyaki place nearby, if that suits everyone?"

"Yeah," Iwaizumi straightened up to answer. Oikawa's gaze turned petulant. Sensing this, Iwaizumi turned and grabbed Oikawa by the scruff of the neck. "You have no choice in the matter, you're coming with us."

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

They were seated in a private booth, secluded from the ears and eyes of the other patrons of the okonomiyaki restaurant when the talk returned to the match. They had played their order and were waiting for their waiter to return with the food.

"So," Iwaizumi said, arms folded across his chest and a grim expression on his face. "There something you should be saying right about now?"

Oikawa hung his head. Then he bowed his head and spoke in quiet, even tones.

"I apologize deeply for nearly betraying your trust in me. I let myself get carried away by the heat of the situation and my desire to win. It was uncalled for."

"I accept your apology, Oikawa-san," Suga said gently. "But I hope you will take this opportunity to reflect on the fact that you do not need to resort to under-hand tactics to win a match. You have enough of talent and athletic skill to rely on yourself. Trust that your body won't betray you. As long as you take care of it. Which," Here, he looked at Iwaizumi. "I'm sure Iwaizumi-san makes sure you do."

"On another note, I do not mind confirming that which you already know," Suga continued. He paused and laced his fingers with Daichi's under the table. Daichi squeezed his hand reassuring, then looked on in astonishment and worry as Suga placed their clasped hands on the table. He knew no one was looking over right now, so only their intended audience would see the message bright and clear.

Iwaizumi's eyes widened perceptibly, while Oikawa looked unsurprised.

"Wait, you two are  _together_  together?"

"Yes, Iwaizumi-san, we are," Suga said with a smile. Iwaizumi gaped.

"But h-how-," Iwaizumi stuttered, shocked to be trusted with such a secret so early in their friendship. Homosexuality was not exactly a widely-accepted topic in Japan. "How could you have known to trust us of all people? I really don't feel we're deserving enough to be confided in with such a big thing as-" Here, he gestured at their clasped hands since he appeared to be a loss for words.

"Oikawa-san here already figured it out. And although, I did want to wait for a more appropriate time for us to tell you and Oikawa-san, it is not something I am ashamed of and I do not want to hide it from those I call my friends," Suga elaborated patiently.

"Wait, what does the match have to do with any-" Iwaizumi began, before his mind pieced things together and he whipped his head around and clamped his hand down unexpectedly on Oikawa's head.

"Ow, ow, ow, Iwa-chan," Oikawa complained, reaching up to smack Iwaizumi's hand away.

"You idiot, Oikawa, that's a new low, even for you. I can hardly believe Sugawara-san and Sawamura-san accepted your apology, after you nearly outed them - however obtrusively you may have said it - without their  _permission_ to a group of strangers! And after I  _told_ you to be nice, Baka-kawa!"

Suga and Daichi watched wordlessly.

Just then their waiter returned with their food, and paused to take in the scene with a puzzled look. Possibly deeming them weirdos in his head, he calmly set each dish in front of the person who had ordered it and bade a hasty retreat.

With the waiter's comic timing, the tension broke.

Iwaizumi let go of Oikawa's head suddenly.

"Well, I'm sorry for this idiot too," he muttered, not looking at either Daichi or Suga.

"I'm sorry, Iwa-chan," Oikawa said sincerely, albeit quietly, and separated his chopsticks to start eating.

"Apology accepted," Daichi said. "Now, I wouldn't mind putting this incident behind us now. This vegetable okonomiyaki is too good to be ruined by a tense atmosphere," he said, as he began digging in.

Iwaizumi separated his chopsticks. "Yeah," he said, plucking a small piece off his okonomiyaki and eating it. "Besides, I can't lose my best Calculus tutor. I'd be stuck with Oikawa and need I remind you, but he needed  _my_ help to pass Calculus in high school."

"Hey," Daichi said, pretending to be affronted. "I happen to have a lot more going for me than my Calculus skills." He pointed his chopsticks at Iwaizumi for added emphasis.

"Like your cooking skills?" Suga said, sniggering into his hand.

Daichi glared at him.

"That was only that  _one time_ , Suga! Are you never going to let me live that down?"

"No," Suga said in all seriousness. "Grown men who burn miso soup should be shamed."

That got a chuckle out of Iwaizumi and an unexpected one from Oikawa too. Suga threw a kind smile in Oikawa's direction, including him in the conversation, as he continued to tease Daichi.

When they were done, and the waiter had magically reappeared to clear the empty plates away, Iwaizumi slouched in his seat, hand rubbed his full tummy in contentment.

"Oh, that was good," he said.

He got equally contented murmurs of agreement from the other three.

"By the way," Iwaizumi began as he straightened up in his sit. He slid his hand into Oikawa's on the side of his face that was further away from him and gently pressed his head back until it rested on his shoulder, his hand absently massaging Oikawa's curls. "Since you two trusted us enough to tell us that you were dating, I need to be frank with you too - I'm dating this idiot." With that, he placed his head gently on Oikawa's so that his cheek smushed the top of the brown curls.

Suga and Daichi smiled kindly.

"Thank you for telling us," Daichi said, then he signaled for the check. When it arrived, everyone reached for their wallets at the same time but Daichi pulled it quickly to his side.

"It's on us," He said, putting down half the cash as Suga put down the other half. Then, he handed it to the waiter, disregarding Oikawa and Iwaizumi's protests.

"We never decided what the loser had to do for the winner," Daichi reminded them as they began making their way to the exit. "So, we figured that we might as pay for dinner since we lost an honest game."

Iwaizumi seemed about to refute his reasoning until he heard the words "honest". That made sense.

"And anyway," Daichi wasn't finished talking. "You guys will have to fork up some cash next time, because we plan on  _winning_."

"Oh, we'll see about that, won't we, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa asked, suddenly back to his usual confident self. The rest of the three were surprised for an instance before Iwaizumi answered:

"We will," he said, with a smirk of his own.

And so they teased and cajoled each other all the way to the bus stop. They chatted inanely about anything and everything - as good friends as known to do - on their way back to their apartments. At their respective doors, they separated with cheerful but tired "good nights" and finally, exhausted after the day's proclivities, they slept soundly through the night.


	3. The Tryout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iwaizumi is just a big softie on the inside

Oikawa was apparently very serious about challenging Suga. Iwaizumi had even found a list of future challenges when he had been tidying up the mess in the living room.

Daichi and Suga had been enjoying a quiet lunch since Iwaizumi had class and Oikawa was nowhere to be seen when the man himself materialized, standing behind them. 

He clamped his hands down on their shoulders.

"Hello, my fellow comrades," He greeted cheerfully.

Daichi choked and started coughing. Suga paused in his eating, bent Daichi forward a bit and began hitting him between his shoulder blades for good measure. 

"Where's your fan club?"Suga asked in the meanwhile. Generally, it was near impossible for Oikawa to sneak up on them on campus, because the excited gasps and squeals of his ever-present fans were as effective at announcing his entrance as a bell on a cat.

Suga stopped when Daichi seemed to have swallowed the food properly.

"You don't want to know,"Oikawa said, mysteriously.

"Right," Suga said, calmly skeptical. Noticing that Daichi seemed to be okay now, he stopped hitting him, and rubbed his back reassuringly instead. Choking was always scary. "Just please don't kill Daichi. I don't think I'm cut out to be a necrophiliac.

"Sure thing,"Oikawa agreed readily. "By the way," he said, leaning forward on folded arms to stare at Suga'sfood more closely. "That looks good! Did you make it yourself?"

Suga shook his head, making a non-committal noise of dissent. "This is all Daichi. He's the cook in the relationship."

"Really? But I thought you burnt miso soup!"Oikawa said in surprise. Daichi made a face at him. First, he nearly kills him and then he doubts his cooking skills? It was too much.

"A good cook can still make mistakes from time to time. I'm only human," Daichi said petulantly.

"Ne, ne," Oikawa said, smile turning mischievous. "Was it because Refreshing-kun was distracting you?"

Both Daichi and Suga turned crimson.

"Nuh-n-no," they stuttered unconvincingly, looking away from each other.

Oikawa smiled at them knowingly, but he didn't say anything out loud. Instead, he changed the topic of the conversation.

"So, I have my next challenge for you, only if you're up to it though, Refreshing-kun," Oikawa said with a smirk. 

"I'm listening."

"A cook-off. You versus me. Our boyfriends can be the judges."

"But they're biased."

"Give us a blind taste test,"Daichi interjected.

"And there you go,"Oikawa said, gesturing at Daichi.

"Alright, you can email us the details later," Suga said, standing up with his empty plate. "But now, you guys need to get to the gym for the volleyball try-outs."

 

∆ ∆ ∆ 

 

They ran into Iwaizumi on their way to the gym. The moment Oikawa caught sight of him, he glomped him like a man possessed, which in turn scared the people around them into parting like the Red Sea.

"Iwa-chan~!" he squealed happily into Iwaizumi's neck. Iwaizumi patted him affectionately on the back in response and nodded 'hello' to Daichi and Suga. 

"How are you doing?" Suga asked, falling into step with Iwaizumi. Oikawa had fallen behind and was walking with Daichi, talking animatedly about something.

"I'm nervous,"Iwaizumi confessed with a laugh. "But I expected that. Mostly, I'm just reviewing all the training I did and hoping that it was good enough."

"Of course it was good enough! How dare you doubt that my training regimen was anything but excellent!"Oikawa piped up from behind.

"Shut up, Oikawa," Iwaizumi said, without the bite. Then they all paused as they reached the gym doors.

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to try-out, Suga?" Daichi asked, turning to face him ruefully.

Suga smiled back. "I'm sure," he said, reaching out to hold Daichi's hand as Iwaizumi and Oikawa stepped to block their clasped hands from prying eyes and to give them a little privacy. Suga squeezed Daichi's hand in encouragement. "I _have_ thought about this. I'll be fine cheering you on from the stands, even though I'll miss standing beside you on the court. Karasuno gave me that pleasure multiple times, and I don't think I'll ever get enough of that feeling," Suga murmured softly, so only Daichi could hear. "But this is your time to shine. And you will shine, I know it," Suga said with a wistful smile. Unable to bear it, Daichi drew him into a tight hug. One of Suga's hands went to wrap around Daichi to hold him as the other slid softly through Daichi's short hair, rubbing gently. They savoured the warm, closeness of the hug, before breaking apart  after awhile.

"Ok," Oikawa said, taking hold of the conversation as he stepped forward to face Iwaizumi and Daichi as they stood in front of the gym doors. He placed his hands on their shoulders in a firm grip. "You two will be just fine," he said with a smile, confidence lacing his words. Daichi and Iwaizumi straightened up perceptibly. 

"Yeah!" they said, enthusiastically before the three of them turn and went towards the locker rooms. Suga watched them go with a little smile, before he turned around too and went to find a seat among the spectators.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

There were not a lot of spectators, mostly friends of the athletes or gym bugs who happened to be in the gym anyway and had decided to entertain themselves for awhile.

Suga found a seat near the middle of the section, and settled himself in. He could see Oikawa chatting with one of the coaches from where he was. Iwaizumi and Daichi were standing together near the other hopefuls, doing their upper body stretches. They were allowed to do their own stretches before the tryouts began, since there was no group stretching like they did at Karasuno.

The first part of the tryouts were endurance tests. As group by group of athletes went through the tasks set out for them, the coaches made notes studiously. Iwaizumi and Daichi seemed to be doing well, easily in the first ten for each task. Oikawa didn't have to tryout so he stood by the coaches, with a select number of athletes Suga recognized from various issues of Volleyball Monthly. All of them had been scouted, which automatically assured them a place on the team, while everyone else had to go through the tryout process.

During the break, Daichi, Iwaizumi and Oikawa came to sit with Suga in the stands. He congratulated Iwaizumi and Daichi on doing well in the tests and reassures them about the practice matches that were to come. He handed over the pork buns he brought with him, and they sat for awhile, munching in silence.

When it was time for them to go back to the tryouts, Daichi gave Suga another hand squeeze - their own private sign of affection when in public, and Suga squeezed his hand back gently, smiling.

"I can keep you company during the second half if they don't need me to play," Oikawa said, flashing Suga a smirk. He seemed confident that he could convince the coaches to let him go sit with a friend in the stands rather than stand with his new team in a show of solidarity.

"Sure," Suga said, taking it as a sign of goodwill. Besides, he was antsy sitting by himself with no one to gush at every time Daichi did something well.

They all smiled as they bid him goodbye and returned for the second parts of tryouts - the practice matches. During the break, the gym had been divided in two, which Suga guessed was in order to make best use of the time they had, by having two games going at once. Players were allowed to play in the position of their choice, and members of the official team subbed in if a group of players were certain roles. Iwaizumi and Daichi seemed to be in different groups but out was yet too be seen if their groups would play opposite each other.

Suga settled in as the first match started. Suddenly, he heard someone call his name.

"Sugawara-san!" came a familiar voice from behind him. It was a girl from one of his classes, Hyuuga-san, he thought her name was. "I didn't expect to see you here!" She said with a smile. Then pointing at the empty seat beside him, she checked to see if he had been saving the seat for anyone before she sat down.

"Hello," he said with a smile. "Hyuuga-san, was it?"

"Yep, from first year economics," she said, setting her backpack down on the seat beside her. "I hope I'm not too late, my last class was all the way on the other side of campus."

"Oh," Suga offered a condolatory smile. "I'm afraid you missed the first half."

"Have I?" She seemed crestfallen. She peered down at the gym, eyes roving over the crowd as if looking for a certain person. Then, she turned to Suga, looking confused. "Where are the girls? I only see the guys team." 

"There's a girls team?" Suga asked in surprise, feeling a bit ashamed not to have known. He should have figured out that "best volleyball school in the prefecture" meant for both boys and girls volleyball. Even though he considered himself to be pretty progressive ever since he had fallen for a boy, there were still times when he discovered he had unconsciously retained certain traditional ideas about the roles and capabilities of men and women in Japan. He apologized for his faux-pas. "I should have realized."

She accepted his apology with a nod, and seemed to consider him a moment. Suga shifted uneasily. To distract her, he asked: "So who are you cheering for on the girls team?"

"My friend."

"I see."

"Who are you cheering for?"

"My friend. Well, and my neighbours as well."

"Your neighbours?" She hid a giggle behind her hand. "Sorry, I know you must mean two young men, but when you said 'neighbours', I pictured an elderly couple - you know the kind who've spent their whole life together - trying out for the volleyball team." 

Suga smiled in amusement. "That's actually a pretty accurate description of them. They've known each other since childhood and they always seem to be bickering like a married couple."

"Oh, I wasn't expecting to be that accurate," Hyuuga-san laughed. "So, who is this married couple you're neighbours with?"

Suga pointed out Iwaizumi. "That's Iwaizumi Hajime," he begin.

"Oh, let me guess," she said with a wry smile, "And his best friend, Oikawa-san?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Are you kidding? Everyone knows that Oikawa-san and Iwaizumi-san are close, whether they want to or not."

This time out was Suga who chucked wryly. "I guess Oikawa-san's reputation precedes him."

"You got that right."

When the girls team filtered into the gym, Hyuuga-san pointed out her friend and waved. She waved confidently back. 

She made for nice company, taking animatedly with her hands and getting so excited when her friend did particularly well. In turn, she listened to Suga when he gushed about how well Daichi was receiving all the balls spiked his way.

Suddenly, she paused in the the middle of what she was saying, and her gaze focused on a point behind his shoulder. Before Suga could turn to look to see who it was, a warm body dropped into the seat beside him, and an arm draped itself casually on his shoulder.

"Suga-chan," a voice cooed intimately in his ear. "Did you make a new friend?" 

Suga wondered briefly:  _Suga-chan?_ He was a bit mystified by this turn of events. Was he caught in the middle of a trademark Oikawa flirting move? He checked to see of it was working. Surprisingly, it wasn't. Rather than being starstruck, Hyuuga-san seemed to be alternating between contemplative and amused.

"I'm Hyuuga Mayumi," she said, settling on amused. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Oikawa said, with a charming smile. "Oikawa Tooru."

"I know, you're kind of famous."

"Thank you. This is the first time we've been introduced, have we? I don't think I would forget such a pretty face," Oikawa said suavely.

Suga felt uncomfortable. Did Iwaizumi- know Oikawa was going around flirting with people?

Hyuuga laughed, but it wasn't the tittering laugh of an infatuated person, but rather someone laughing at an inside joke.

"It's the first time," she assured him, looking like she was restraining herself from teasing Oikawa. 

Oikawa's smile flickered, clearly not used to people not falling left and right for his charming self. Suga could only feel grateful that Hyuuga-san didn't seem to be susceptible to Oikawa's charms. He had to face her in economics after whatever came of this conversation.

"Ah."

Oikawa seemed to pause, as if wondering how to proceed.

"So, are you here to cheer someone on?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hyuuga-san said, with deliberation. She was facing forward, watching one of the athletes begin to sprint, down on the gym floor - it was her friend, Suga realized, glancing over. Hyuuga-san was on the edge of her seat leaning forward, the heels of her palms pressing into her knee. "I'm cheering for my girlfriend." 

Suga's eyes widened in surprise. Had Japanese people become more progressive when he wasn't looking? That was twice now that people had openly confessed their sexual orientation.

"And I'm cheering for my boyfriend," Oikawa said without missing a beat. Suga turned his head to take in Oikawa's expression. He seemed calm and serene, confident but not flirty anymore.

Hyuuga-san seemed surprised.

"Your boyfriend is down there?" She gestured down into the gym. "I thought Sugawara-san was your boyfriend, what with the way you've got your arm so possessively around him!"

"Suga-chan is my back-up boyfriend, you know, just in case anything happens to Iwa-chan," Oikawa said, quite seriously.

"Oikawa-san, should you be saying that?" Suga asked, worriedly.

"What?" Oikawa seemed genuinely confused.

"You know, calling me your 'back-up boyfriend', flirting with other people? Won't Iwaizumi-san get mad?"

"Oh, don't worry, Iwa-chan knows I'm not serious about any of that," Oikawa said, with a gentle smile. "I don't hide anything from Iwa-chan, or more like I can't. We've known each other for so long, he can almost _sense_ when I've done something I shouldn't have."

"Ok," Suga said slowly, unconvinced.

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Iwa-chan. Heck, I'll even ask him in front of you, if you want," Oikawa said, sensing Suga's doubts. 

"No, no, you don't have to go that far. I believe you. I just couldn't imagine that happening with me and Daichi," Suga said. Since Hyuuga-san was being subjected to this strange conversation with no explanation of what was going on, Suga turned to explain who 'Iwa-chan' and 'Daichi' were. She seemed surprised to learn that he had a boyfriend too, assuming that he was simply accepting of homosexuality due to being friends with Oikawa and Iwaizumi.

Oikawa stuck around for awhile, watching the matches with them. They cheered for Daichi when his group went on the court and they cheered for Hyuuga-san's girlfriend. However, when it was time for Iwaizumi's group to go on, Oikawa graciously excused himself and went down to have a chat with the coaches. After which, they noticed him switch with a player on Iwaizumi's team, and begin to do a short warm-up with the other members of the team. When he walked onto the court with Iwaizumi's team, Suga realized that Oikawa had just calmly wormed his way onto Iwaizumi's team to play setter. And of course, with Oikawa playing as their setter, Iwaizumi's group shone, serving, spiking and blocking beautifully. The coaches had scribbled furiously all throughout that match.

The tryouts for the boys' team finished first so Suga bid Hyuuga-san 'good night' and left to go meet up with the other three as they all headed home together.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

A couple of days later, Oikawa was with his fans when he received an email from the volleyball team. Smiling at the person talking, he happened to glance at his phone and then stopped short. Then shrieked, effectively cutting the person off and scaring the rest.

"Oikawa-san!" His fans chorused in concern. "Are you ok? What happened?"

He looked up, beaming, which struck them all right through the heart.

"I have to go now! Byeee!" He said and hopped, skipped and jumped his way out of the cluster of people surrounding him and made a run for it. They stared after him, their hearts palpitating partly due to shock, partly due to his adorableness.

They saw him stop short when he noticed an nondescript young man with silvery hair smiling and talking to two people. He made an abrupt detour, said something with a bright smile to the two people. Both of them looked surprised, but they were nodding anyway. Oikawa flashed another smile at them, and unexpectedly picked the silver-haired man up like a princess - who squawked indignantly and swatted at his captor in vain. Oikawa ignored his protestations, and carted his prisoner off in the direction he had been heading towards originally.

The onlookers wondered if this was a new kind of punishment game.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Iwaizumi had just set Daichi to work on an exercise after explaining how to integrate by parts when he noticed his boyfriend purposefully striding towards them with a pouting Suga in his arms.

He calmly looked down at his work. And flipped a page.

"My boyfriend appears to carrying your boyfriend in his arms. Do you think we should be jealous?" He asked, uncapping a pen and scribbling something down on the page.

Daichi glanced up and his eyes widened briefly, before he sighed and went back to his work.

"I think we should be jealous. Even if this behaviour is expected of Oikawa-san," he murmured.

"I guess I've grown immune, knowing him all these years."

Daichi looked over at Iwaizumi, taking in his calm expression.

Before Daichi could say anything, Oikawa showed up and set Suga down gently beside him. Then he sat down beside Iwaizumi and snuggled up to him.

"Ne, ne, Iwa-chan, did you get the email? They're going to post the results of the try-outs this evening!"

"Really?" Iwaizumi looked over at Oikawa. "I'll check it out tonight then. By the way, what are you doing, princess-carrying other people's boyfriends in public?"

" _Prince_ -carrying, thank you very much," Suga interjected. "I had to correct so many people on the terminology on the way here. Just because it's traditionally called a "princess" or "bridal" carry doesn't mean that you shouldn't change the term to fit the person." He huffed. Daichi rubbed his shoulder in a consolatory manner. Suga felt very strongly about being considered a "team mom" or a "princess", even though he could intellectually understand the reasons behind it. There was even a time when Hinata had accidentally called him "Tou-chan" during practice and Suga had misted over while Hinata blushed furiously upon realizing his mistake.

Oikawa simpered at Iwaizumi.

"Why, did I make you jealous Iwa-chan?" Oikawa walked a finger up Iwaizumi's arm as he rested his head on Iwaizumi's shoulder and blinked prettily at him.

Iwaizumi stared him down expressionlessly. "No, we made a promise and I trust that. I just don't you want making trouble for Daichi and Suga. They're nice people. Don't be mean to nice people."

Oikawa had lifted his head partway to stare at Iwaizumi curiously.

"Promise? What promise?"

Iwaizumi's ears turned pink.

"I'll tell you later," he said hurriedly, turned away.

Not one to give up easily, Oikawa leaned closer. "Ne, ne, don't be shy. Tell me, tell me."

"Yeah, don't mind us," Suga said with a smile, as he watched the proceedings. Daichi was back to attempting to work out the problem.

"Well," Iwaizumi said, looking away. Then he tensed, as if working up the courage before turning his head to fix Oikawa with a defiant stare.

Oikawa offered him a hesitant smile. 

"Do you remember the match when I had been feeling off and I hadn't played as well? The one where you just invited yourself over to my house after the match because you knew I was feeling terrible and you never leave me alone when I do?" Iwaizumi asked. He didn't wait for Oikawa's nod before continuing. "Well, you consoled me and pulled me out of my slump and made me hot chocolate. Then, you asked me your usual thing, you even have a certain smile for these moments." Here, Iwaizumi flicked his fingers in the direction of Oikawa's mouth.

"'What would you do without me (Iwa-chan)?'" Iwaizumi began and Oikawa joined in, remembering the moment.

"Yes, that." Iwaizumi shifted, seemingly uneasy. "So I said, 'then I guess you're stuck with me forever', and you said, 'I guess I am' with that really happy smile of yours. The genuine one. So, that's what I meant by 'promise'." Iwaizumi looked down at his book again, his emotional quota filled for the day.

Then he risked a brief glance at Oikawa's face and flinched. Oikawa's face was scrunched up as if he was trying really hard not to cry, he was that happy, but the teardrops welling in the corner of his eye and the disgustingly green blob of snot in his nose betrayed him.

He settled for flinging his arms around his Iwa-chan, who tried valiantly to fend off his gross boyfriend.

"You're such an idiot, Iwa-chan. A sweet, romantic, naïve idiot but still an idiot nonetheless," Oikawa said, holding Iwaizumi's head to his chest in a strangle hold.

Iwaizumi sputtered and tried to disprove these false claims, while his face was slowly smushed into Oikawa's shirt that smelled sweetly of the detergent they now shared.

Oikawa conceded and held Iwaizumi at arms' length so that they could continue this conversation seriously.

"Although I did mean every word I said to you that day, Iwa-chan, and you can hold me to them, I had always envisioned making a promise like that in a more prestigious setting. You know, in front of everything we hold dear to us - our friends, family and volleyball."

Oikawa glanced over at Daichi and Suga, both of who has been watching the previous exchange with fond smiles.

"I guess for now, you two can be the witnesses to the fact that I plan to love and cherish Iwa-chan for my whole life, through the good and the bad, and that I expect Iwa-chan to do the same for me."

Oikawa snuck a quick look around the quad where their table was situated, and setting no one playing attention to them, pulled Iwaizumi behind the cover of his textbook to kiss him soundly. Setting the book down, he smirked at his silently red-faced boyfriend.

"Now, _that's_ a promise!" 

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

They checked their emails after dinner that night. It had been the night of the cook-off so Oikawa and Iwaizumi had come over to Daichi and Suga's apartment. The dish of choice was simple - omurice. Yet somehow Oikawa had managed to cock it up and so naturally, Suga emerged the triumphant winner. It had been a stroke of luck - Daichi had been giving Suga cooking lessons lately and they had just gone over omurice. Or maybe Oikawa was just a terrible cook.

Anyway, they put deciding what Suga would get as winner on hold until after they looked up the results if the try-outs.

After the dishes had been washed and set aside to dry, Iwaizumi and Daichi logged on. Suga knelt down beside Daichi and Oikawa draped himself over Iwaizumi's back to look at his screen. 

"Ah," Daichi said, leaning back a little after finding his name. "I'm in. It looks like they liked my receiving." His tone of voice was quietly effused with joy. Suga hugged him tightly and Daichi placed his hand over his boyfriend's fore arm and squeezed gently.

"Congrats," Iwaizumi said, still looking for his name. When he found it, he too leaned back in relief as Oikawa leaned forward to get a better look. Oikawa suddenly squawked in disbelief. 

"Why is my Iwa-chan not on the main team like I am? Didn't they see-" Oikawa was making grabby hands at the laptop, only for him to get pinned to to the ground when Suga promptly sat on him.

"Refreshing-kun! Let me go! I must set right this atrocity!" Oikawa flailed about but Suga had found himself a pretty secure spot - sitting on Oikawa's bum kept him at a safe distance from both Oikawa's wildly swinging arms _and_ legs.

"Nope, I just decided this is what I get for winning at cooking and winning at life," Suga said, smugly folding his arms across his chest. Iwaizumi and Daichi sniggered at how regal Suga looked, a real _prince_ if you had to ask. Daichi took a picture to commemorate the moment.

"Not fair, why aren't you taking my side Iwa-chan? I'm trying to be chivalrous!" Oikawa pouted.

"I appreciate the thought," Iwaizumi commented dryly, as he walked over to Suga and Oikawa. "If you'll kindly return this sack of potatoes to me, we should be going." Suga graciously gave up his human cushion. To Oikawa, Iwaizumi said: "You need to get up earlier than usual tomorrow, or so you told me this evening. We better get going then." He held out a hand and Oikawa grabbed on and hoisted himself onto his knees and then to his feet.

They bide Suga and Daichi good night at the door to the apartment, and then they each turned in for the night, exhausted but happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I haven't updated earlier :(. The pace of work at university always picks up around now for some reason.
> 
> On a more positive note, come fan-person with [me](uppie-tan.tumblr.com) about the new Haikyuu!! episode!


	4. The Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The super-duper-extra-long apology chapter because the author seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth for a good eight months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to [truthinadvertising](http://archiveofourown.org/users/truthinadvertising/pseuds/truthinadvertising), [the_anime_cafe](http://archiveofourown.org/users/the_anime_cafe/pseuds/the_anime_cafe), [itsyourturndreaming](http://archiveofourown.org/users/itsyourturndreaming/pseuds/itsyourturndreaming), Thornes and all the guests who've commented and let kudos. This author-san really, really appreciates them!

There was a knock on the door. Suga got up to answer it since he was taking a break.

"Suga-chan!" Oikawa beamed at him through the open doorway.

"Hi," Suga offered him a tired smile. He turned around to head back into the flat, calling "Oikawa-san's here" to the weary students therein.

Oikawa pulled off his shoes as he supported himself with the wall. He closed the door after, and followed Suga into the living room.

"How goes the studying?" he asked, sitting beside Iwaizumi, who had his brows furrowed in intense concentration.

"I think we've lost him," Daichi commented, when Iwaizumi didn't respond.

Oikawa contemplated Iwaizumi.

"Yep," he agreed. "It's best to leave him alone when he gets like this, occasionally leaving food and water within easy reach so that he remains fed and hydrated." Oikawa nodded sagely. "From the _Care and Maintenance of Iwaizumi Hajime_ , as written by yours truly with amendments by his family."

"We'll keep that in mind," Suga said as he set down a tray of streaming hot mugs of tea. He placed a mug down near each of them, and set the tray aside. "So how did your exam go?" he asked Oikawa, who had returned late due to an evening exam.

"I think I did well. Most of the questions were similar to the ones assigned for homework, so I'm pretty sure I aced those. There was a tricky one at the end, I think that needed me to pull together a few concepts. I almost figured it out, but ran out of time. No biggie though," Oikawa shrugged, taking a sip of his tea, the palm of his hand warm against the side of the ceramic.

Suga smiled.

"That's good to hear."

He had to get back to his studying soon, so he turned to do so. The room was quiet except for the sound of their breathing and the muted sounds from the street below wafting through the open window.

Oikawa had pulled out his phone part way, and amused himself playing _Minion Rush_ \- which subsequently gave him a craving for bananas. He leaned backwards and craned his neck to try to look through the open kitchen door at the translucent fruit bowl sitting on the table.

No dice.

He tried to ignore off his craving. He returned to his game, played some more, jumped on the fluffy unicorn, unlocked an achievement, before abruptly hitting pause and standing up.

  
This attracted Daichi and Suga’s attention. Iwaizumi didn't even flinch, now wearing a mask of horror as he stared down at his notes. Daichi and Suga suddenly noticed this and flinched simultaneously, but since Oikawa didn't look concerned, they ignored Iwaizumi and turned to look at him with twin expressions of curiosity.

"I'm going to get bananas. D'you want anything?" He asked.

"More tea," Suga said.

"0.7 lead," Daichi said, holding up his pencil.

"Kay," Oikawa said, turning towards the door. He shrugged his jacket back on, stuck his feet into his shoes and left the apartment. Then played Minion Rush on the way to the convenience store once he got to ground level. That game was _addicting_.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

He munched on a banana on the way back, ignoring the strange looks he got from the parents who held their kids close to them as the strangely attractive man, who was simultaneously eating a banana and staring at a phone that occasionally cackled at him, walked past.

"I'm back," he singsonged when he got back. He had one hand against the wall as he stood like a flamingo, trying to get his shoe off. He heard someone brush up behind, and craned his head under the arm that was holding him up to see them. The person grabbed the bag out of his hand and rummaged about inside, pulling out a banana. Then he peeled it and began to eat it while holding the bag and staring at Oikawa

"Hello to you too, Iwa-chan," Oikawa smiled at him. There was only one person who could get away being so rude with him.

Iwaizumi nodded at him, before he snuck a quick glance down the hallway towards the living room, where Daichi and Suga could be heard in quiet conversation. Oikawa straightened up, shoes finally off and found himself held in place by his chin while Iwaizumi planted a quiet, but firm kiss on his lips, before pulling back.

"You look like a fish," he commented idly, before turning around to head to the kitchen with the stuff Oikawa had bought.

"As long as I'm _your_ fish, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa called out before joining the duo in the living room. They didn't even appear fazed by Oikawa's strangeness. Perhaps because they, now firmly with the category of “Friends of Oikawa”, had come to accept his weirdness. Or more likely because their minds couldn't fathom anything else as trivial as Oikawa's weirdness in the midst of cramming for their exams.

Coming back into the living room with newly refilled mugs of tea, Iwaizumi responded to Oikawa.

"I sincerely hope you're not a fish. I _will_ dump you if you are. This relationship ain't unconditional. I signed up for a _human_ Oikawa and nothing less." He said, as he placed the mugs in front of the respective person, before slumping down noisily beside Oikawa who immediately snuggled into his side happily. Iwaizumi snuck an arm around him, below his jacket and blocked from view by the table and held him close. On the surface, he just took a sip from his mug before glancing down at the notes he had in front of him.

Suga took a sip of his tea with a happy sigh, sharing a quick glance with Daichi over the top of it. They had always found it cute that Oikawa and Iwaizumi, for all their crabbiness, were open about the fact that they loved each other. Certainly, it came more naturally for them having known each other for as long as they did. Daichi and Suga were a bit more hesitant, despite their relationship technically being in its “honeymoon” phase. It was Suga who had confessed first, and who had honestly taken Daichi completely by surprise. In his heart of hearts, it had taken a long time to find the courage to be honest with himself, much less take up the courage to tell Daichi, even though he knew that Daichi would respect enough to hear him out. Needless to say, Daichi _had_ been surprised.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

_6 months ago_

 

It had been a beautiful spring day when Karasuno won the Inter-High. A beautiful day that Suga now considered with a sense of foreboding, staring at the court erupted in cheers as his teammates danced around him in sweaty delirium and as Aoba Jousai stood around frozen on the other side of the court.

It had been some time now since he had first realized that he was in love with his best friend and captain, an idea that he had struggled with and come to the accept with a certain reluctance. Initially, he had planned to keep his feelings to himself, seeing no viable reason to let him know. Honestly, he was scared. Throughout their years together in high school, and most particularly, in their year as captain and vice-captain of the volleyball team, they had grown to be really close – as friends. Suga treasured their friendship too much to ruin with what was likely a petty infatuation on his part. He knew Daichi had no problem with homosexuality – there had been multiple occasions in their friendship when someone had called someone “gay” as an insult and Daichi had shut them down firmly, and other similar incidents. Yet, this didn’t necessarily guarantee that Daichi might be as understanding if he was actually _confessed to_ by a boy, much less his now best friend and vice-captain. So, Suga had decided that the best course of action was to let these feelings die naturally, as they would likely drift apart after this high school, especially if they were to go to different universities. 

Still, it hurt to smile and put on a brave face when he came upon Daichi talking to girls so casually or when Daichi was waylaid for a private confession by yet another girl who wanted this one last chance to be the girlfriend of the handsome and kind captain of the volleyball team. Suga was jealous. He wanted a life where it would be ok to casually flirt with Daichi in public, to have a chance to hold hands and have people think it was cute. Why couldn’t it be that easy for Suga as well?

Plagued by his new-found feelings, he had forgotten that Daichi was not a complete volleyball idiot. So, naturally Daichi, being such a _good friend_ , had noticed Suga's discontent (it was the first time Suga actually found himself annoyed with the clairvoyance that came along with being really good friends). Consequently, Daichi had seen through all the haphazard lies and half-hearted smiles Suga had thrown at him and realized that something was Not Right. And when something was Not Right with Suga, it was unthinkable that Daichi would stand by and allow his friend to wallow in misery. So he promptly put all his efforts into making himself open to discussion and on shooting Suga “It’s ok, you can talk to me” looks whenever he was not browbeating Asahi or focusing on the team.

Suga tried, he really did, to ignore it. But this was _Daichi_.

So, one cool night, after they had been catching a breath a bit away from the team after an intense training session, there had been a moment of silence as they lay on the grass staring up at the plethora of stars dotting the midnight-blue sky. After a moment, Daichi had turned his head, and looking him straight on, said: "Will you tell me what’s bothering you if we win the Inter-High? I promise you can trust me with whatever this is, I hope you know that you can always trust me."

Suga held his breath, taking in these words. He really wanted to believe in Daichi. And honestly, it would be a relief to get it off his chest. He didn't expect Daichi to return his feelings at all, but he felt he could trust Daichi to listen to him seriously and reject him honestly so that they could both move on and forget about this. Also, although he really wanted Karasuno to win, he knew they were up against _crazy_ teams and maybe, just maybe he might not have to say anything at all and they could amicably on the day of their graduation.

So he gave in, breath arrested by the beaming smile Daichi inflicted on him in response.

And Karasuno had just won. Amidst the elated and sweaty hugs and cries of elation, his eyes sought Daichi's against his will. Daichi caught and held his look. Then he disentangled from the chaos that Nishinoya had pulled him into on the side of the court and worked over determinedly. Before Suga could breath a word, he found himself enveloped tightly in Daichi's arms. Surprised and a little excited to find himself in such a position, he lifted his arms to return the hug. 

"You defended our team wonderfully on the court today," Suga murmured.

"Thank you," Daichi said, visibly snuggling into Suga's neck. "And you tossed so well for our team too."

"Thank you."

Before Daichi released him, he let slip a quick: "Meet me at our usual place, where we walk home from. I'll tell Asahi to go on without us." Then he pulled away, and smiled openly. "S'okay?"

"Yeah," Suga returned his smile, despite the knots in his stomach. "I'll see you then."

They sat together on the bus, but it wasn’t a good place for a proper discussion (confession). And besides, the team was so tired from giving their all in the match that they were all sound asleep five minutes after Take-chan had pulled away from the stadium.

When Suga was awoken midway by an abrupt jerk and a whispered apology from Take-chan, he discovered he had been snoozing on Daichi's shoulder. There was even a bit of drool, that he hastily but carefully wiped off with a tissue. Then, looking around to see the rest of his team passed out in the semi-darkness of the setting sun, he decided to indulge himself in what might possibly be the last time he got to do so, and settled down in his seat, and placed his head gently back on Daichi's shoulder and drifted off again, comforted by the warmth of Daichi's body.

The next time he woke, he woke to a gentle tapping on his cheek. He tipped his head up to find himself face-to-face with an amused Daichi.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," he said smiling at Suga. "We're here."

Suga smiled back up at him, and then withdrew, getting up and stretching. He looked around to all his sleepy teammates doing the same. Tanaka and Nishinoya were already at their usual hundred-percent and had taken it upon themselves to prod the rest of the team out of their sleep and out of the bus. Tanaka was currently trying to prise a half-asleep Hinata, who had somehow managed to clamber nearly half over Kageyama in his sleep, off of said sleepy teammate. Nishinoya, for his part, was bugging Asahi by messing up the hair that had slipped out of its tie. Although, Nishinoya seemed to be getting more out of running his hands through Asahi's hair than actually bugging him.

Suga smiled, savouring the moment. Just in case his confession was received well, and it soured the elation of the day.

Eventually, they all got out of the bus, and each of them began their individual trudge home. Asahi seemed a bit surprised when Daichi told him to go on, but seemed too sleepy to be too concerned. Suga sat on a bench under the streetlight, waiting for Daichi to walk back to him, his heart beating wildly. Behind Daichi, he saw Nishinoya jump up and slap Asahi's back, startling the poor guy before running off with Tanaka and the others. He laughed, and Daichi stopped, pausing to glancing behind him and deduce the merit of him intervening. He decided against it, and turning around, continued walking towards Suga.

When he finally reached Suga, he sat down beside him on the bench.

"That Nishinoya, huh?" He chuckled, shaking his head. He took a swig of his water, and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he glanced sideways at Suga with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah," Suga agreed, holding onto his own bottle tightly.

There was a moment, before Suga took a deep breath.

"Before I say anything, I would just like to say that I've always valued our friendship. I've never wanted to sully it in any way, yet I feel like I should still tell you this."

"OK...?" Daichi began

"I like you," Suga cut him off before he lost his resolve. He turned and faced Daichi head-on. "Romantically."

"Oh," Daichi looked astonished. No sign of revulsion though, which helped. "I wasn't expecting that."

"I'm not expecting you to return my feelings or anything," Suga continued, feeling encouraged by the fact that Daichi was actually _staying to_ _listen_. "I just felt you should you know, because, well, it pertains to you. I just think it might help to have an honest rejection from you, so that I can move on. So that I won't trouble you with these feelings anymore."

"You're sure you're not mistaking this for a deep friendship?" Daichi asked, looking away with a blush on his face.

Suga stared at him.

"Pretty sure."

"How do you know, though?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Suga asked, a bit desperately. He hadn’t been expecting a response, much less _questions_. Later, when he was feeling less like his heart was going to leap out of his chest or something equally terrifying, he understood that Daichi was just taking the rational route and asking questions to clarify this _very_ unexpected situation.

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

Suga did mind, but he answered anyway: "I think about kissing you, and I like it."

"Oh," Daichi said, looking away. His blush deepened.

Suga looked at the ground, but snuck side glances at Daichi. How ever he had imagined this conversation going, this was certainly not it. He felt strangely in control, which was not a position he ever thought to find himself in if he was the one confessing.

"Sure you’re not just distracted by my amazing leg strength?" Daichi joked.

Suga resigned himself to the weirdness of this confession.

So he leaned into Daichi's space, placing his hand down on the bench between them for support and whispered in his ear: "Oh, that's just a side _benefit_."

Daichi's head wiped around so fast, Suga was surprised he didn't get whiplash. Finding his face inches away from Suga in a less innocent parody of the moment in the bus, he leaned back to put space between them.

"Suga!" He seemed scandalised. "What are you doing?"

Suga leaned back to a more respectable distance and crossed his arms, staring in front of him. He pouted.

" _You're_ the ridiculous one here, Daichi. I know you've rejected dozens of confessions by now. Why don't you reject mine so we can both move on?" Suga asked in exasperation.

"Because I don't want to," Daichi said with finality. Suga gaped at him, petulance falling away from his body. "Because you're my best friend and you deserve better. I need to think about this." He stood up abruptly.

Suga continued to stare up at him, open-mouthed.

Daichi bowed stiffly to him.

"Give me some time to give your confession full consideration. Goodnight."

Then, he straightened up rapidly and walked swiftly, leaving Suga sitting on the bench in the lamplight, feeling distinctly less in control now.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

Coach Ukai had given them the day after the tournament off. So Suga had nothing planned for the day to distract him from worrying incessantly about having just confessed to his best friend. Normally, he would have used this day off to hang out with said best friend and Asahi. But he wasn't sure if that was welcome anymore.

So he found himself lying upside-down on his bed, reading a manga at arm's length above his head with his phone beside him. Better to keep it close, just in case.

Suddenly, it vibrated.

In his excitement, he glanced over at the screen, letting his grip on the book relax. Which predictably resulting in him getting hit in the face by the falling book. Gravity obviously couldn't care less about lovestruck teenage boys.

It was Asahi.

**Asahi**  
_Aren't we hanging out today?_  
_10:34 am_

**Asahi**  
_Sorry, by we, I meant you, me and Daichi. Like we usually do._  
_10:34 am_

**Suga**  
_Oh, hey Asahi. I don't know, is Daichi up for it?_  
_10:37 am_

**Asahi**  
_Yeah, I think. Why wouldn’t he be?  
_ _10:38 am_

**Asahi**  
_Did you guys have a fight?  
_ _10:39 am_

**Asahi**  
_Daichi says ok. To hanging out today. Are you mad at him or something? Did he do something wrong? I can…try to speak to him if did. I can’t promise anything though. Daichi’s scary :(  
_ _10:41 am_

**Suga**  
_I appreciate the sentiment, Asahi, but you don’t have to scold Daichi about anything._ _J_ _He didn’t do anything wrong. Where do you want to meet?  
_ _10:43 am_

**Asahi**  
_We’ll meet you outside yours, if that’s ok. See you then :)_ _  
_ _10:43 am_

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

When Suga left his house, he found a nervous-looking Asahi standing beside an inscrutable Daichi. As he turned his back to shut the gate, he took a moment to calm himself. Daichi wasn’t running away screaming. It was ok, he could survive this. There wasn’t even that much time until their graduation. He could tough it out. He _needed_ to tough it out, for the team if nothing else. They didn’t need to get caught up in his little melodrama.

He turned around and smiled, hoping he seemed normal enough.

“Hi.”

Asahi waved, still looking nervous beside Daichi. Daichi nodded at Suga. _How manly_ , Suga thought, with much sarcasm added. He was nervous, and sarcasm was his only defense.

Suga smiled hurriedly before turning away with a quick “shall we go now?” to hide the blush that rose to his cheeks after finally allowing himself to get a good look at Daichi. Damn him for looking so good in black. And damn him for that amazing leg strength that gave him those _tight_ , corded thighs.

Asahi instinctively moved to put Suga in the middle. He tended to live life convinced that the longer he stayed close to Daichi, the more his chances of getting hit by Daichi for doing something silly. Which a rational-minded Suga would normally accept and applaud as foresight, but dammit, he was feeling crabby today. So he casually sidestepped Asahi’s attempt, which caused Asahi to freeze like a deer in headlights, caught in motion, and slowly getting left behind. He unfroze Daichi asked him courtly, not turning around: “Something on your mind, Asahi?”

Asahi jolted and chuckled out a nervous “no, nothing” but rejoining them at their pace. He glanced between them, but neither of them caught his eye. Suga assumed it would now dawn on him that something was indeed _off_ between the two of them, and that Suga was not going to be saving him from Daichi today and might even _encourage_ Daichi.

Surprisingly, Asahi proved himself beyond their quite low expectations of his survival instincts. Maybe they should challenge him more, Suga thought inanely.

So they found themselves walking into their usual ramen place for an early lunch, under the pre-text of “oh, we haven’t gone there in a while, I wonder if they have anything new” and “we’re going to be graduating soon, and you two are so smart, you’re probably going to live away at a good university and this might be one of the last times we get to have ramen together like we used to”, all of which were very convincing argument’s on Asahi’s part. They were greeted as they entered, which they returned in kind before they moved to take a seat at the Western-sized tables around the restaurant rather than at the bar that faced the chefs directly.

Asahi moved to sit down as did Suga beside him, when suddenly he found Daichi holding out his chair for him. They both froze and looked over at Daichi. His expression was still inscrutable, but the tops of his ears were dusted pink. Feeling an inkling of recognition dawn on him, that lit just a _little_ fire of annoyance with him, Suga decided to consider the situation and graciously accept Daichi's presumed chivalry - for now. He was aware that Asahi was looking at him like a scared deer, and someone had to be the responsible adult, even though he really wasn't in the mood.

He sat down.

"Thank you, Daichi," Suga said, outwardly gracious, inwardly throwing darts.

"You're welcome," Daichi said, with a hint of gruffness. He took the seat directly opposite Suga.

There was a whole sensation of a bomb about to go off, until their waitress showed up to take their order.

Then their lunch conversation resumed with a sense of normalcy, after a silent admonition from Suga to stop scaring Asahi, and keep him out of this.

Daichi nodded briefly, but he didn't seem to happy. Knowing him, he probably recognised that there was something off about Suga (which he didn't know what to do about), and that the whole situation was bothering Asahi (which he was immensely happy about).

Asahi, unexpectedly continuing to prove that he did actually have survival instincts and was not afraid to use them, distracted them with a stammered comment about volleyball: "So, Nishinoya's Ro-rolling Thunder was awesome in the match yesterday, huh?"

And they were off. No one said Kageyama and Hinata were the only volleyball idiots on the team, just the most vocal.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

The day went well otherwise. They dawdled after they finished their lunch, liking the cool atmosphere inside too much to go outside into the high heat of the afternoon.

Their discussion moved to the on to their next match, and the rest of the Inter-High, their conversation taking on an excited yet worried undertone. This was their last chance as third years to bring their team to or as close to victory, in order to regain some of the old Karasuno name.

Daichi changed the topic after a while, proving that as good captain, he had the astuteness to know enough was enough and that too much volleyball talk wasn't going to do anybody any good.

And so they ended up talking about their future.

"Have you decided where you're going, Asahi?" Suga asked, his generally good humour having restored itself sometime during the course of lunch.

"Oh, haha," Asahi chuckled shyly, "I think I'm just going to stick around here, maybe go to the local college. I'm not as smart or as talented as you two." He ducked his head.

" _Maybe_ go to college? _Not_ as smart or talented?" Suga exclaimed. " Asahi, you've always done well enough when you put your mind to it. At least consider doing something post-secondary. As a backup plan, maybe. I know you have other interests beside volleyball, you could explore them further."

Asahi blushed.

"Thank you, Suga, I'll consider it. I don't know what I'll do yet, but I might even consider helping my mom with our family business maybe. I've always enjoyed helping out, and she..." Here, he paused with a deep blush, and then mumbled the rest: "...is always happy to have the free labour."

"What was that?" Daichi asked, casually sipping his tea. "Speak up, you bearded weirdo."

"Daichi!" Suga said in admonishment.

"Fine, bearded ace. That sounds weird."

"It's only weird because it's not an insult. See, this is the point when you realized how much you pick on poor Asahi." Suga pointed at Daichi with his chopsticks for emphasis.

"It's good for him," Daichi said with a petulant twist to his mouth. "Teaches him how to survive when someone insults him for real."

"Good save, Daichi, but I know you too well for me to believe that you really mean that. You take too much pleasure in tormenting Asahi, for it to actually be for his good."

"At least I'm not as bad as _him_ ," Daichi said meaningfully.

"Ah,  _him,_ " Suga nodded thoughtfully.

" _Me_?" Asahi squeaked worriedly.

"No, not you. But don't worry about it," Daichi and Suga chorused in glee.

"I really don't like it when people do that," Asahi muttered mournfully. "And I thought you were on my side, Suga. What am I going to do if you team up with Daichi? Who's  _he_? Am I going to die?"

"Aw, Asahi," Suga patted him gently on his head. "Don't me so melodramatic, you're not going to die, or anything drastic like that. Here, cheer up, take some money and get us each a gari gari kun. You like those, right?" He handed him a bill, and nudged him up and then in the direction of the door.

Asahi went reluctantly, casting imploring looks back at them until he went through the restaurant drap.

"Daichi," Suga said, turning back to him, suddenly serous. "What's with the chivalry today?"

Daichi looks surprised. Whether because of the about-face in conversation or being called out on his chivalry.

"What chivalry?" 

Suga just looked at him.

He sighed and put his drink down.

"Fine, it's weird to talk to you about this, since well it's _you_ I'm talking about," Daichi paused. "But if it had been someone else who confessed to me, and I was seriously considering it, you would be the person I spoke to."

"I'm still the person you can speak to, Daichi. Because no matter what, I was your friend first. I know that it clearly seems difficult to believe that I can be objective, but I'm not going to try to influence you in my favour. I'd rather have you come to me willingly, or not at all."

"Good," Daichi said looking convinced.

Suga smiled. 

"So, now will you talk to me about why you were acting so chivalrous earlier?"

Daichi turned slightly red, but spoke anyway: “It's kind of how you just sort of _learn_ how to act like a boyfriend, even though you've never been one? I'm not sure what the protocol is here with you, and I guess I sort of went on default with you, to try and figure out what it might like to date you."

Suga took a deep breath. There were a whole bunch of things that slightly pissed him off in what Daichi had just said, but he knew that it was not Daichi's fault and blaming him for it wasn't going to do any good.

"I'm not a girl, Daichi. There are no traditions that get to dictate how you act towards me. Not to say you can't be chivalrous if you want, I just won't appreciate it if you do it all the time. I'm no delicate flower, and I highly doubt some girls will take kindly to chivalry, which you should keep in mind if you ever end up dating a girl, although of course, I sincerely hope not."

Daichi looked a bit skeptical, but he nodded.

"OK," he said, flashing a small private smile at Suga that made his heart skip a bit and that made him feel extraordinarily superior to all the other people in the world who had never gotten to see that smile.

"Ano-" came a hesitant voice beside them and they both jumped.

It was Asahi, apologetically holding out three popsicles.

"They didn't have any more-" he begin, before Daichi exploded at him.

"You bearded weirdo!"

"Daichi!"

◊ ◊ ◊

 

In the end, it was a pleasant enough day. It was reassuring to know that their friendship with each other and with Asahi hadn't been affected badly by Suga's confession. He would never have wanted his feelings to destroy the camaraderie they had going.

Just as the sunset was about set, they reached the point where they parted.

"Good night, Suga," Asahi wished with his usual shy-happy smile.

Before responding, Suga glanced over at Daichi. He and/or Asahi would sometimes come to his house for dinner or vice versa. When Daichi came along, and they ended up chilling in his room, Suga had often felt an illicit thrill run up his spine, having Daichi there in _his_ room, sitting on _his_ bed, touching _his_ things. He assumed that might be put on hold for awhile - even Daichi should be able to see that that might constitute leading him on in this twilight period.

So, before Daichi could say anything, Suga said quickly, with a flash of a smile: "Goodnight, Asahi, Daichi."

Daichi hesitated, but at Suga's words, he nodded.

"Goodnight, Suga," he echoed and turned to slap a startled Asahi on the back. "Let's go."

"See you tomorrow, Suga!" Asahi called, jogging up to catch up with Daichi.

"See you," Suga said, watching them go with a pleasant smile on his face. It was nobody's business if he stared a little too long at the tight lines of Daichi's body as he walked away.

Nobody's business at all.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

Suga woke up the next morning feeling exhilarated, and ready to take on the world. He sped through usual morning stuff - brushing his teeth, a shower, breakfast etc. However, as he was dressing, he suddenly remembered buying some new clothes and stuff for practice from a store Bokuto-san had pointed out to him in when the team had gone to Tokyo for practice. In particular, Bokuto-san had pointed out a few things that he liked in particular...which Suga had been a bit hesitant to buy, but had bought anyway, at Bokuto's insistence.

He has never worn them since, but since he was feeling particularly daring today, he threw them in this duffel bag.

Later, in the changeroom, he pulled out the knee braces, hesitated for a moment before he pulled them on willfully, then went to put on his socks.

Amongst the flurry of boys changing around him, he heard a bottle drop. He paid it no mind until he heard, "Are you OK, Daichi?" And looked around to see Daichi bend swiftly to pick up his water bottle and play it on the shelf. As he straightened up, his eyes caught Suga's who had turned around. 

His ears pinked, he nodded quickly at Suga and went back to changing. Suga turned back to his own things puzzled, briefly catching Nishinoya staring off into space with a slightly glazed look on his face as Tanaka leapt to deal with the matter. Although, at least no one seemed to find his new lengthier knee braces overly weird.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

The practice continued as usual, even if some people seemed a bit distracted. Like when they are practicing their spikes, on one side while Nishinoya practices receiving them on the other. It was Asahi's turn up and he jumped beautifully, fully concentrated on spiking. The ball went over, heading straight towards Nishinoya's waiting arms, and then flew right past and thumped on the floor behind him. Nishinoya looked a bit misty, and not at all regretful about missing that receive.

Both Tanaka and Asahi stared at him worriedly.

"Snap it up, Nishinoya!" yelled Ukai. "Concentrate!"

Nishinoya snapped back into the present.

"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir! That was such a cool serve from our ace, I couldn't help watching!" Nishinoya said, getting into receiving position. Asahi immediately wilted into a pool of awkwardness on the sidelines.

While utterly unconcerned by Asahi’s behaviour, Ukai seemed surprised at the military-type response he received from Nishinoya. 

"See that it doesn't affect your performance during a match. Watch as much of Azumane's spikes as you want, just don't let it affect your performance. Next!"

Hinata scuttled into position.

Practice continued, as Asahi took his place blushing prettily, and Nishinoya received Hinata's spike with a determined expression and pinked ears.

Which was pretty much par for course in terms of hiccups during practice. Until Wednesday, when everything hit the fan and made Suga seriously consider the fact that his knee braces might possibly be cursed. Probably.

He was accosted first thing in the morning by Nishinoya, of all people. When Suga opened the gate at the end of his house, and moved to step out, Nishinoya stepped out from the early morning shadows and nearly gave Suga a heart attack. It didn’t help that he was dressed all in black, from his running shoes, shorts and black Karasuno jacket up top. He waited patiently for Suga to recover, a serious look on his face.

Once he had his breathing under control, Suga locked the gate and turned to Nishinoya. Whatever it was that prompted Nishinoya to wake up early enough to get to Suga's house before he left and to be sneaky enough to have found out where he lived in the first place, must mean that he must have a _very_ good reason for choosing to approach him this way.

"Good morning, Nishinoya," Suga said, smiled encouraging at him, "What's up?"

"Hey Suga-san, can I ask you something that you must keep on the down low?"

"Sure," Suga said slowly. Nishinoya watched his face before speaking.

"Those new braces of yours are really cool, and I'd like to buy them for a teammate as a birthday present. It’s not weird at all, no matter what Ryuu says. I’d like you tell me where you got them." he said, staring intensely at Suga.

Nope, not a good reason at all. Nishinoya was just plain crazy, let it be known to all.

"Okay," Suga said slowly.

Nishinoya looked at him sharply.

"Really?

"Yeah, I don’t mind telling you. I got them at a store in Tokyo when we had gone there for our training. I think they even have an online store, so you can order it online and get it shipped to you. Here, open up a memo on your phone, I'll give you the name."

Nishinoya grinned in relief, handing his phone over: "Thanks, Suga-san, I really appreciate it."

"No problem, Nishinoya.”

Once all was said and done, they walked over to meet Daichi and Asahi at the usual place Suga would meet up with them before walking to school. They were both surprised to see Nishinoya walking up with Suga, but Nishinoya jumped right in with a morning greeting and began a rapid-fire conversation with Asahi about things that he had observed that Asahi could work on. Daichi tried to half-heartedly throw in that Nishinoya didn’t really need to make Ukai’s job any easier, but Nishinoya just threw Daichi an intense look and said that he didn’t mind. Then he glanced hesitantly at Asahi, who agreed, with a soft smile, that he found Nishinoya’s advice useful. So Daichi left it at that, and fell back to walk in line with Suga.

“Hey,” he said, smiling at Suga. “Strange morning, huh? What was Nishinoya doing over at your place? Should I be jealous?”

“No,” Suga, said smiling back, encouraged by the gentle teasing. “He wanted to know where I got my new knee braces from. Can’t tell you anymore than that, though.”

“Ohoh, has he been getting ideas too?” Daichi asked, with a chuckle, glancing at the pair in front of them who were in their own little volleyball bubble, deaf to the outside world.

“Ideas?” Suga asked, confused. “What ideas?”

“Oh, did you not realize, Suga?” Daichi asked mischievously. Then he leaned in, in a mimicry of the same position and tone Suga had used when trying to throw Daichi off during his confession, and said: “Let’s just say that I had some doubts about whether I could find men sexually attractive, and let’s just also say that those braces erased any doubts I might have about finding _you_ sexually attractice.” He pulled back with a grin, then suddenly it fell as a thought seemed to have occurred to him. “Wait, sorry, was that not okay to that? I mean, it was one of the things that I thought I should consider when responding to your confession, although it’s not the only thing or the most important thing, or stop me, please Suga, before I put my foot in my mouth, if I haven’t done it already.”

Suga smiled at him dazedly.

“No, that’s ok. That’s very ok. And that’s encouraging to hear, that you’re considering all angles, very thorough of you. Sorry,” Suga paused and swallowed, and Daichi stopped and looked at him worriedly. Nishinoya and Asahi just continued down the street, still oblivious. “I need a moment, you have no idea what images you just put in my mind with those words, _Daichi_.” He hissed in warning, as Daichi came forward to hold on to him in some semblance of comfort. “I’m fine, let’s keep walking. Well, not fine, I am thinking inappropriate thoughts about you in the middle of a respectable neighbourhood, let’s not concentrate on that and get going, we’re already lost Nishinoya and Asahi, those idiots.”

Daichi jogged to catch up with Suga’s brisk walk, looking a bit pleased with himself.

Suga hit him with a paper fan.

“Ow, why do you have a fan? Where did you even get it from?”

“Shut up, it’s for comedic effect.”

◊ ◊ ◊

 

The rest of the week went by with relatively few mishaps. The only moment of interest that Suga could remember was a time when they got a bunch of texts from Tanaka in all caps that seemed to make no sense:

**Tanaka**  
_HE BOUGHT THEM_  
_7:47 pm_

**Tanaka**  
_SUGA-SAN YOU HAVE TO HEALP HIM. I TRIEDO TO SFOTOP HIM BU T IT DIDNT WORKF._  
_7:47 pm_

 

 

**Suga**  
_Tanaka’s having an emotional breakdown. Nothing serious, just dramatic._  
_7:49 pm_  

**Daichi**  
_lol what did nishinoya do now  
_ _7:52 pm_

**Suga**  
_From what I can decipher, buy the knee braces he had asked me about. I still can’t believe you’re a lol person, even over texts  
_ _7:53 pm_

 

**Tanaka**  
_Tanaka Ryuunosuke-san is currently unavailable. Please do not try to contact him as he will be unable to respond due to having to take responsibility for betraying Nishinoya Yuu-san’s trust._  
_7:53 pm_

**Suga**  
_Poor Tanaka. Just make sure he can still play tomorrow. You wouldn’t want to make Daichi mad :p  
_ _7:56 pm_

**Tanaka**  
_Sure thing. Thanks for telling me about the braces again, Suga-san. You’re the best._  
_7:57 pm_

 

You really had to appreciate the amount of self-control Suga had then. It took a _lot_ of effort to restrain himself from texting back, “Hope you and Asahi enjoy yourselves.” Damn it, Daichi, he had an image to maintain and it had been significantly difficult to do so since Wednesday.

Then Daichi smoothly and significantly diverted his thoughts for the second time that week with a simple text:

**Daichi**  
_Hey, are you free Saturday? I’m ready to give you my answer. Meet me where we usually meet on the way to practice?  
__7:59 pm_  

Wow, correct punctuation from Daichi was a rare thing indeed. Oh, the things Suga focused on to take his mind off the plot twist that was his life now.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

Navy blue did not look any less good on Daichi than black did. If anything, it looked _better_ , against his tanned skin. He was always surprising laissez-faire about the darkness or lightness of his skin colour, which certainly implicitly weighed on people’s minds in Japan. Performers in traditional Japanese theatre dusted their skin colour with powder to make their faces lightes and whiter. While ganguros were the complete opposite, tanning and fake-tanning to maintain that dark skin that went with that fashion type. Suga had always been a lily-white colour, which maybe meant that Daichi seemed like some sort of exotic variety of flower beside him. But he digresses. He was nervous, he was hyperaware of the situation and at the same time, had his thoughts scattering in all directions.

“Hi,” Daichi said with a warm smile, sitting down beside Suga on the same bench they had sat at before.

“Hi,” Suga said, with a quick and nervous smile.

“So…” Daichi said, “I’m going to just go for it, if you’re ok with that.”

“Yeah,” Suga said, hands squeezing the edge of bench where he had placed them on either side of his thighs. He was simultaneously listening and not hearing, his heartbeat suddenly too loud.

“My answer is yes, Suga, yes, I’d like you date you, if you’ll have me,” Daichi said, smile turning soft in the lamplight. Suga stared at him, expressionless, and in shock. Vaguely, he realized that this was actually all quite romantic, and if Japan ever agreed to let gay couples get married and adopt children, he would have a wonderful story to tell their kids if they lasted that long. And he sincerely hoped he did.

He threw his arms around Daichi, and hugged him close in his elation.

“Thank you, Daichi,” he murmured breathlessly into his neck. That was now _his_ to hug. He hugged Daichi harder.

Daichi seemed to hesitate for a moment, before his arms went around Suga’s body in a secure hold. He chuckled. “You’re…welcome? It feel strange to say that. Are you supposed to thank people for accepting your confessions?”

Suga pulled back, and found his face inches away from Daichi. He turned red, and glanced off to the side so that he didn’t lose his composure. He laughed too.

“I don’t know, I’ve never confessed to anyone before this.”

“Lucky me then,” Daichi grinned at Suga. “I’ve never accepted anybody’s confession before, although, as you know, I have been confessed to before.”

“Then, lucky me, for being the first person whose confession you accepted.” _Let’s hope ‘and the last’._ But Suga kept that to himself, and just smiled at Daichi on the outside. “Oh, uh, do we need to be careful around people? I’d like to keep this to us initially. I don’t know how people would react if they knew, so…sorry to spoil the mood!” Suga waved his hands about frantically.

“Yeah,” Daichi said with a wistful smile. “I guess it won’t be a good idea to tell people initially. Half, because of people can still be stupidly ignorant about accepting _one_ aspect of you, while they were fine loving otherwise.” Suga nodded. “but, mostly, because I want to have you, and us, to ourselves for sometime.” Suga blushed.

“I’d like that too,” he said, unable to keep the happy smile off his face, he was beaming so hard. Daichi seemed naturally good at this, but Suga knew that he was just being honest because that’s just what he did. And that made Suga happy most of all, to get Daichi’s feeling through like this, uncensored.

“Good,” Daichi said, and hugged Suga to himself again.

They separated after awhile, the conversation taking an aimless turn. Since Suga’s parents weren’t expecting him back anytime soon, they decided to take a walk along the nearby river bank, watching the stars twinkle in the sky as their reflection shimmered in the water below. As they were walking along, close to each other to feed off each other’s body warmth to temper the cool night breeze, their hands kept brushing knuckles. Suga finally took the initially and threaded their fingers together. Daichi looked down at their joined hand and then smiled back up at Suga.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve held hands with anyone in my life, besides my family members as a kid,” he said, swinging their arms slightly.

“Yeah?” Suga asked, “Guess that’s another lucky first for me then.”

“Can I maybe give you another lucky first then?” Daichi asked. “You can do- reciprocate it if you want.”

“Big word there,” Suga commented, knowing that Daichi was about to say ‘do it’ though he meant it in an innocent way. “Go ahead.”

Daichi stopped and lifted their joined handles and kissed Suga on the knuckles of his hand. Suga smirked at him.

“So charming, I think my world just titled on its axis right there,” he joked.

Daichi stuck out his tongue at Suga.

“I’m joking. It was sweet,” Suga smiled. “But you’re right, payback’s coming one day.”

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

“Aw, you two are so cute!” Oikawa cried out in the present. “My, Suga-chan, I didn’t know you had it in you. _Such_ a Casanova. Iwa-chan,” he nudged him sharply. “Take notes!”

“Shut up, Oikawa. I’ll be affectionate when I want to be affectionate. And you’ve never had any problem with how I show it before now. Also, give people their privacy, dammit!”

Suga laughed, and put Daichi’s hand down from where he had just held it to place a kiss, smirking at Daichi, who was currently tomato-red, the whole time. They had been having breakfast together the morning after the study session when their neighbours had come over.

“It’s okay,” he said. “You know where the coffeemaker is, Iwaizumi-san. I just in some fresh grounds.”

Iwaizumi nodded, and headed into the kitchen. Oikawa made himself comfortable at the kitchen table with Suga and Daichi. Daichi busied himself, still blushing, with his breakfast while steadfastly ignoring Oikawa.

“Is it a special occasion?” Oikawa asked, completely ignoring Iwaizumi’s prior warning.

“6-month anniversary,” Suga admitted.

“Oh, congrats,” Oikawa smiled. “I’ve no idea when our anniversary is. Iwa-chan keeps track of these things, and lets me know a week in advance so that I remember to buy presents and stuff and seem like a _good person_.”

Catching the tail end of that sentence, Iwaizumi scoffed, placing a cup of coffee in front of Oikawa and another where he promptly sat down.

“I don’t think _anybody_ believes you’re a good person,” Iwaizumi said, blowing on the top of his coffee.

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa said scandalized. “As my boyfriend, you’re supposed to think the best of me!”

“Nah, you can’t think the best of anybody, Oikawa. People are too complex.”

“Then if you don’t think the best of me, why are you dating me?” Oikawa asked, petulantly, not realizing just what a bomb of a question that was.

Suga raised his eyebrows, wondering if he and Daichi should be hearing this. Daichi looked uncomfortable. Iwaizumi glanced around at him and sighed, before rubbing the space between his eyebrows with his index and thumb.

“He saves the really uncomfortable questions to be asked in the company of people he’s comfortable with,” Iwaizumi said, by way of explanation. “Take that as you will. I’m pretty sure he intends it as a compliment although people don’t often see it that way.”

“We’re…” Suga glanced at Daichi who waved him on. “…ok with it.”

“Thanks, sorry about that,” Iwaizumi turned to Oikawa, who had been simply waiting for his response, fuming slightly.

“I _know_ you, Oikawa. The good, the bad, everything in between. And I love you for all of that,” Iwaizumi said, calmly taking a sip of his coffee.

Suga mentally amended his perception of the possible progressive-mindedness of Japanese people to just those who had come in contact with Oikawa. Which was a lot, so that might actually be good? He shook it off. Stare into the abyss, and the abyss stares back at you and all that.

In the meantime, Oikawa was hugging the life out of Iwaizumi, who had somehow managed to relocate his coffee to safety in time. Oikawa seemed to be mumbling random nonsense, among which Suga caught “…and I know you burnt your tongue, trying to act all cool, why did you do that, you know I’m impressed with you anyway, and that you’re going get annoyed about later and take it out on me…” before Oikawa let him go with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Ne, ne, Iwa-chan, I wanted to ask you, when is our anniversary again?”

“How am I supposed to know, Oikawa?” Iwaizumi said, flicking him on the forehead. “I’ve known you for so damn long, how am I supposed to remember when exactly we become more than friends?”

“Iwa-chan!”


	5. The Headrub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein the author engages in a bit of crack and breaks the fourth wall sometimes. She pleads that you, dear reader, indulge her in this temporary madness.

Once upon a time there was a stubborn Grand King. He was a pretty king, in an entirely subjective manner. I mean, come on, what is beauty anyway, but a means to discriminate against the rest of the population who have to subsist on petty scrapings of-

_Narrator-san, narrator-san, please leave your personal grievances out of this story! This story is about me, and I will not have you besmirching it with petty grievances._

Grand King indeed. Actually, since this King is quite insulting, the story will now be switching to feature a much sweeter, much loved former setter-kun as the protagonist.

_Nooooo! Iwa-chan, help me, this Narrator-san is being meaaaaan!_

_Shut up, Oikawa. I'm trying to pay attention here._

_T_T_

Once upon a time, there was an absolutely wonderful person named Sugawara Koushi-san. He used to be a great setter for his volleyball team at the Miyagi Prefecture Karasuno High School. Everyone loved him. He was always there to smile and offer a kind word when any of his teammates were feeling down or come up with a fantastic new cheer (that sometimes included too much of a skin show and nearly gave Daichi-san a heart attack) when his teammate would **spike a crazy toss sent to him by a setter, Kageyama, you were like gwaaah, and then Hinata was like, Imma gonna trust you to send the ball where my hand is and then he hit it like paaaaan, and then Nishinoya was like Roooolllling Thuunnnder and the ball went up and-**

_Narrator-san, I think you're getting a bit too excited there. I think people would like you to get back to the story. I know I would, you were saying such nice things about me. :D_

Sugawara-kun, you're so sweet. Well, since you asked so nicely... let's return to the story about the wonderful, _nice_ Sugawara-kun.

*hmph*

It was a well-kept secret, but Sugawara-kun had a secret power you see, which was... drumroll please... the power of the magical HEADRUB!

Dun dun dun.

As always, there were critics who shook their head in dissent and dismissed the power of this magical headrub, even though it was perfectly magical. Every time the kind and gentle Sugawara-kun would come across someone in pain, they would say:

"Sugawara-san, oh Sugawara-san, my head hurts so much today. I tried my bestest to hit all the tosses Kageyama sent me but he still wasn’t happy and he hit me too much today. Now my head hurts and I don't know what to do!"

"Don't you worry, Hinata-kun. Just lay your head in my lap, and let me give your little head a gentle rub."

Hinata-kun laid his head down happily. He knew best just how soothing Sugawara-san's touch could be after too many wallops from that aggressive setter-kun. Sugawara’s touch was always so gentle and comforting, that it only took a few minutes to send allll the pain away. But this time, little Hinata-kun was also nearly asleep, so Sugawara-kun tapped him gently on his cheek to wake him. He stirred and rubbed his eyes sleepily, the adorableness of the whole situation striking Suga right through the heart.

"Thank you, Sugawara-san!” Hinata popped up. “I feel much better now!" He bowed quickly and leaped away, off to continue his volleyball adventures in this merry land (or just over to the kitchen to devour their meat buns for now).

*grumble grumble* *grumble grumble* 

Sugawara froze in fear, before steeling himself for what was in store for him. He turned around slowly, repeating " _monsters aren't real, monsters aren't real_ " like a mantra. He found a grumpy Kageyama instead.

"Ah, Kageyama!" Suga exclaimed in relief. "Sorry, it's been awhile since I've been in the same room with you and Hinata that I forgot how jealous you get of people touching him."

"What?" Kageyama bit out, looking a bit frantic.

"Nevermind, nevermind," Suga waved him off. Apparently, Kageyama was still as clueless as ever about how obvious his possessiveness over Hinata was. "Here, come lie down, I guarantee I can make all your worries go away." He wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

"Ew, Suga-chan, you look like a pervy old man when you do that!" Oikawa exclaimed from where he was taking refuge against the sudden Kageyama-Hinata invasion by festooning himself around Iwaizumi. Technically, he and Iwaizumi were the invaders, considering they were the ones who had dropped by the apartment unexpectedly (as they were wont to do these days) when Kageyama and Hinata had come visiting.

Kageyama hesitated.

"Don't listen to him, Kageyama," Iwaizumi advised. "He's just pissed because Sugawara's headrubs are actually magical and he's been holding himself back because he's trying to prove something to himself. None of us have any idea what."

"Iwa-chan, you traitor!" Oikawa cried, messing up his boyfriend's hair to prove just how anguished he was. Iwaizumi attempt to fight him off, in vain. "Tobio-chan, don't listen to him. Prove yourself to be the cute kouhai I always thought you were and say no to the headrub!"

"Cute kouhai? You nearly brained me with a volleyball once!" Kageyama exclaimed.

"I was having a bad day, Tobio-chan! You can't hold that against me for the rest of your life!"

"Watch me," Kageyama said shortly and turned abruptly to Sugawara who had been watching this debate avidly from the safety of the couch. Kageyama sat down beside Suga, and placing the knuckles of his fisted hands down on the couch, bent his head so that it would be within Suga's reach. "Do your worst, Sugawara-san."

Sugawara smirked at Oikawa over Kageyama's head as his hands descended towards the silky black hair. Oikawa leaned forward, arm outstretched in a tableau of despair as yet another person gave into the charm of Sugawara's hands, while Iwaizumi instinctively grabbed him around his waist to stop him from landing face first into the coffee table.

Kageyama was practically purring away in delight by now.

"Sugawara-san, can I keep you always? Life with Kageyama would be so much easier than."

Daichi quickly put a stop to that crazy line of reasoning. Boyfriend privileges.

 

∆ ∆ ∆ 

 

And so it went on, as more and more people fell under the charm of Sugawara's magical headrubs. Oikawa began to despair more and more as people he thought were on his side, like Hyuuga-san, her girlfriend, and even _his own boyfriend_ gave in to the magic of Sugawara's hands. Nobody could understand why it was important to resist the charm of the magical headrub, because as Hyuuga-san sighed so aptly: "I want to _pay_ you, Sugawara-san even though I’m drowning in tuition debt to do this forever, how are you so good at this?"

Daichi also quickly rushed in to put a stop to _that_ line of reasoning. Although, he was outrun by Hyuuga-san's girlfriend, who carted her away swiftly enough after having an intense conversation with Suga. Hyuuga-san was seen wandering around campus with a completely blissed-out expression the next morning, so it was assumed that everything went well.

However, Oikawa continued to resist, and resist he did until one fateful day, during a week of intense training that the main volleyball team had been undergoing for an upcoming match against a rival university. Oikawa had been putting in more and more hours into practice, working himself to the bone in order to be faster, be _better_. Iwaizumi was clearly getting worried, probably having seen the results of what happened when Oikawa pushed himself too much. It was clearly stretching him thin, what with making sure Oikawa was not overexerting himself, doing his own volleyball practice, getting his work done, making sure _Oikawa_ was getting his own work done that he was exhausted at the end of each day. Suga was exhausted himself, despite simply being a spectator to it all, so much so that he willingly volunteered to go keep an eye on Oikawa at practice whenever Iwaizumi was unavailable since he would be going there for Daichi anyway. He jokingly threw in that he was capable of looking away from his boyfriend's amazing legs to keep an eye on Oikawa every now and then, but the tired smile of gratitude Iwaizumi sent his way made him ruffle his hair instead, to show him that he was also concerned about the totally insufferable, yet strangely endearing Oikawa-san.

And so Suga spent more time at volleyball practice, so much so that he began arranging his homework schedule around the meetings so that he could get some stuff done while he was observing practice. Iwaizumi began to look more alive each day, which made Suga glad to have made the right decision.

He was even more glad when one day, when both Iwaizumi and Daichi were away writing a rest, he happened to look up from his work and see Oikawa move forward, and pause as a twinge of pain flashed across his face. Suga was out of his seat, and well on his way to where Oikawa stood, poised to run into one of his famous jump serves. He ignored the curious looks from the people and players around him, who had turned to look around the moment he has called out Oikawa's name. He could barely remember doing so, his mind on full alert pulling bits and pieces of half-forgotten words and phrases that led to him stopping in front of Oikawa and blurting out: "Your bad knee is acting up, isn't it? I think we need to go home and get you to rest it up."

A flash of irritation passed over Oikawa's face.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Refreshing-kun. Go back to your homework, you're interrupting our practice game," Oikawa said curtly, and turned as if to go back to serving.

Sugawara caught his hand in a steady grip.

Oikawa tried to shake him off.

"Oi, what's going on here?" One of the coaches called, coming over. "Sugawara-kun, you should know better than to interrupt a game, even if it's a practice match."

"I apologize," Suga said, bowing deeply. "But Oikawa-san had a knee injury from when he was younger and I'm believe it is acting up now. I've heard that such injuries sometimes act up when the weather gets colder, and since I did not want the injury to worsen for fear of damaging Oikawa-san's future volleyball career, I felt it best to stop him now and let him take rest until it is OK for him to play again."

The coach looked a bit taken aback, but she was nodded slowly in understanding. Oikawa was looking more and more murderous by the minute.

"Yes, yes, I believe Iwaizumi-kun mentioned this injury," she said thoughtfully. She turned to Oikawa-san with a no-nonsense expression on her face. The anger melted away from Oikawa's body and he snapped to attention. This was the one coach he did not dillydally with - she was one of the few female coaches coaching the men's volleyball team and she was one of the most respected coaches among all that he had known. She has one simple rule - respect her, and she would respect you in turn. And for some reason, that really resonated with the volleyball team and Oikawa.

"Oikawa-kun," she said, then asked simply: "Tell me the truth: are you fit to play right now?"

Oikawa sucked in a breath, cheeks red now that all the attention was on him though they had stepped away from the main court after someone had called a timeout. When he finally spoke though, he spoke the truth: "Sugawara-san is right, my old injury is acting up."

She seemed satisfied with his honesty.

"OK, then take the time to recover. Sugawara-kun, I'm trusting you to see that he gets the help he needs to recover." Her calm tone and even gaze pierced Suga. He nodded quickly.

"I will."

She nodded at him in acknowledgement. Then she turned back to the awaiting team, clapping to get their attention.

"OK, we will be continuing without Oikawa-kun for now. Yoshida-kun, you will be taking Oikawa-kun's place."

Yoshida-kun leaped into action, eager for the opportunity to be in the game.

Suga went to place his hand on Oikawa's back as a form of reassurance, but Oikawa just shrugged him off and stalked towards the changerooms, although he was careful not to put pressure on his bad knee, which made it easy for Suga to trail him at a distance.

Oikawa slipped into the changerooms without saying a word to Suga. Suga was about to settle in to wait when he suddenly remembered that he had left his things behind. Catching a wandering volleyball player, he frantically asked them if they could stand outside the changeroom and stop Oikawa from leaving at all costs until Suga returned with his things. The volleyball player seemed amused by the whole situation, not picking up on the seriousness, and agreed to keep an eye on Oikawa.

Suga hurriedly dashed into the gym, and finding all his stuff were he had left it, did a quick check to make sure he had his important things on him, like his phone and wallet, and dashed back to the changerooms, where the amused volleyball player jokingly reported that no Oikawa had gone past him, unless he had climbed out the window. Knowing that Oikawa wouldn't attempt it, considering that his coach has essentially warned him not to further damage the knee, Suga just simply thanked the volleyball player and let him go on his way rather than say anything. Then he stood by to wait for Oikawa to come out, thinking to send a quick text to Iwaizumi to fill him in on the situation in case he finished his test early and thought to come by to check on Oikawa only to find him and Suga gone and panic. Suga knew that Iwaizumi always turned his phone off during tests, and so, the incoming text would not reach him and distract him with worry until after his test, when he didn’t need to concentrate as much.

**Sugawara Koushi-chan**   
_Hey, don't panic, but I noticed that Oikawa's knee was beginning to act up. I pulled him out of practice immediately. It’s not too bad, so I’m taking him home.  
_ _7:39 pm_

 

∆ ∆ ∆ 

 

Oikawa wasn't in any better a mood when he came out.

 "Are you fine taking the bus? I'll come with you, of course," Suga said gently, as if attempting to calm down a seething tiger.

"Sure, whatever," Oikawa said rudely, but he began walking slowly over to the bus stop so Suga let it slide. He could take Oikawa being as stubborn as he wanted to be, just as long as he got him home safely so that he could rest up. All the doctor's offices would be closed right now, and although he could take Oikawa to the hospital now in the middle of the night, who knows how long they might have to wait. And hospital waiting room chairs weren't the best for resting up, where they would likely spend most of their time considering triage would likely place them under the minimal emergency category. So Suga came to the conclusion that it would be best to let Oikawa spend the night resting in the comfort of his own apartment, and then let Iwaizumi take him in tomorrow morning. Both he and Oikawa were free tomorrow, and anyway, Iwaizumi was more equipped to deal with the situation than Suga. 

The bus came soon enough to pick them up, and thankfully, it was a no-step bus so that Oikawa was able to get on with minimal issues, just needing to use Suga as a support so that he could hop on with the help of the railing on the door. They sat down together, but Oikawa ignored him for the entire bus ride. When they neared their stop, Oikawa pulled the cord to signal a stop request since he was closer to it. Suga moved to the front so that Oikawa could use him as support again to help Oikawa off, after which he turned his head and thanked the driver warmly since Oikawa did not seem to be in his usually charming mode, which was understandable.

This was the hard part - the stairs. Unfortunately, their building was not as accessible as the public transit, which is not something Suga had ever really considered until faced with an injured teammate who he had to help climb the stairs. Oh, how he wished he had Oikawa's arm strength enough to sweep him up in a bridal carry, similar to the one Oikawa had swept him up in earlier this year. But Suga refrained from trying anything of the sort, recognizing the possible dangers of it all going horribly wrong.

So he turned to Oikawa, who had been staring up the stairs with a disconsolate expression on his face, and tapped him on his shoulder to get his attention.

"If you could wait down here for a while, I'll take our things up to my apartment, and then come down and help you up the stairs. Stay put, I don't want you trying to climb the stairs and then flailing and falling and ending up worse off than you are now," Suga said firmly, holding his hand out for Oikawa's bag. He let him keep his phone on him. "I texted Iwaizumi-san about the situation, so he might try to contact you once he reads my message." Oikawa just nodded and sat down on the third step. Suga nodded to himself, but turning and going up the stairs with their stuff.

Suga went up the stairs with their stuff as quickly as he could while still being cautious. It took a while, but once he reached the top, he took a quick look over the banister to find Oikawa where he had left him, doing something on his phone. Satisfied that he hadn't moved, Suga went over and unlocked his apartment door, and put their stuff down in the foyer, before he turned around and went back down the steps.

He found Oikawa still on his phone, sitting on the third step, and resting his one leg over the knee of the other.

Suga called out to him in a soft voice. Oikawa looked up.

"So, how do you want to do this?" Suga asked. "Are you capable-"

"I'm capable of getting up the stairs if we go slowly," Oikawa said, cutting him off, making as if to get up. "I'm not _that_  badly injured."

Suddenly Suga was struck with an idea, and put his arms out in front of him to stop Oikawa: "Wait, I have a better idea!"

Surprised, Oikawa sat back down.

"Even if you hold on to the banister to help you up, it's smooth so it won't stop you if you slip, and I don't know if I will be able to catch you if you start to fall. But if you sit on the steps, and lift yourself up backwards one or two steps at a time, it will take a while but it'll be a lot safer getting you up the stairs. And you won't have to put any weight on your injured leg, since you can just use your uninjured one to push you up," Suga finished on a triumphant note.

Oikawa stared at him with a scandalized look. 

"Suga-chan, that's crazy even for you. No way am I crabwalking up the stairs! That's so uncool!"

At least he had returned to "Suga-chan". That was a good sign.

"Do you have a better idea?" Suga asked, folding his arms across his chest in triumph. He knew when he had won. "And, I don't think Iwaizumi-san would be too pleased to hear that you climbed the stairs all the way to your apartment on an injured leg." 

Oikawa scowled at him.

"Fine, be like that. But I'm blaming you if any of my fans see me like this and it ruins my reputation," Oikawa grumbled, but he had already begun the slow and arduous trek up the stairs. Suga contemplated taking a pic for posterity because Oikawa did indeed look like a crab at the moment, but he refrained, deeming that Oikawa had suffered enough today. Instead he just followed Oikawa to make sure he got up the staircase in one piece.

It took a while but they made it, and Suga helped Oikawa up at the top of the stairs. Then, with instructions from him on where to find the keys to their apartment, he opened their apartment door, and helped Oikawa hobble in all the way to Iwaizumi's bed at his request. Oikawa promptly fell back onto the bed with a sigh, and Suga left to make him some tea.

When he came back he placed the mug on the bedside table, and stood beside the bed. 

"Do you want me to take your pants off?" he asked, thinking that they might be dirty from the climb. Then he noticed Oikawa’s smirk, and thought back over what he said and blushed. “Not like that, Oikawa! The ones you're wearing might have gotten dirty on the way up." However, Oikawa seemed to returned to his usual state at some point, and opened his mouth to no doubt tease Suga mercilessly for his mess-up. In a preemptive strike, Suga turned and dashed out of the room, yelling "I'm just going to fill a basin with soap so that you could wash your hands at least!" to drown out Oikawa’s cackling: "My, Suga-chan, taking advantage of me while I'm helpless and our boyfriends aren't around to stop you, you villain!"

"With all due respect, shut up, Oikawa-san," Suga called back, his face red, and then the rush off the water drowned out Oikawa's ensuing laughter.

When he returned with the soapy water and a dish towel, Oikawa obligingly washed and dried his hands while smirking up at Suga. Although when Suga turned to leave, he was stopped by a tugging on his khakis. He turned around, and Oikawa offered him a soft smile as a peace offering and patted the bed by where he had lifted his head, and was now holding his upper body up by his elbow.

"Sit down," he said coaxingly. Suga placed the basin and cloth down on the beside table, and hesitantly sat down on the bed, not sure where Oikawa was going with this. Oikawa promptly put his head in Suga's lap, and smiled softly up at him. He lifted Suga's hand and placed it on his dampened curls, and asked softly: "Please work your magic?"

Understanding dawned on Suga, and a sense of happiness at having finally convinced Oikawa that he was not in fact, the enemy. Smiling to himself, he led his fingers drift through Oikawa's soft curls until his breath eventually evened out and he fell asleep.

Suga gently removed himself and moved a pillow beneath Oikawa's head to take his place. Then he tiptoed away from the bed, and closed the door quietly behind him.

Then he checked his phone to find a flurry of messages from Iwaizumi and one from Daichi.

**Iwaizumi-san**  
 _That idiot. This always happens because he just doesn't know when to quit. Thank you for stopping him before he let it get worse.  
_ _8:09 pm_  

**Iwaizumi-san**  
 _Daichi-san and I are on our way home. Are you taking him to the hospital? Is it that bad?  
_ _8:11 pm_  

**Sugawara Koushi-chan**   
_It's not that bad, he was fine taking the bus home. Since it's not that urgent, rather than getting stuck waiting hours overnight for it to be seen to in the ER, I thought it would be best for him to rest up at home and then, you can take him tomorrow since you two don't have classes. Also, you know more about his situation than I do.  
_ _8:14 pm_

**Iwaizumi-san**  
 _Ah, that's good thinking, Suga-san. Yeah, he'll be in a better mood after resting too. I can't thank you enough for being there, you're a saint.  
_ _8:15 pm_  

**Sugawara Koushi-chan**   
_No problem. And we, thankfully, were able to get on and off the bus OK, and all the way up to the apartment. Oikawa had to suffer a few moments of indignity because it was much safer having him crabwalk backwards up the stairs than hobble up them (I never really realized how inaccessible our building is, we should do something about that), and he cursed me a lot for that, but it's all OK. He's sleeping in your bed right now.  
_ _8:19 pm_

**Iwaizumi-san**   
_He's always found my space more comforting than his own when he's hurting.  
_ _8:19 pm_

 

**Daichi**  
 _We're on the ground floor. I've forbidden Iwaizumi from stress-texting you until we get to our floor, least he fall and injure himself too. We'll be up soon.  
_ _8:19 pm_  

**Suga**   
_See you then  
_ _8:19 pm_

 

Iwaizumi tumbled in the front door a few moments later, and dropped his stuff in the foyer, and after shooting a quick greeting at Suga, and a “I can take it from here, thanks”, he disappeared into his room.

Suga got up from where he had been sitting at their kitchen table and closed their door behind him. He went over to his own apartment and found Daichi making tea for the two of them.

“How’s Oikawa?” Daichi asked, coming forward to hug Suga.

“Better now,” Suga said, smiling against Daichi’s chest. “He really didn’t like me pulling him out of practice like that, but he was so brave getting all the way to the apartment. And I didn’t realize just how inaccessible our city and our apartment were until I had to help him home.”

Daichi ran his fingers through Suga’s hair.

“Yeah, Iwaizumi was talking to me about that, and how he didn’t realize how different it was going to be bringing Oikawa up the stairs in an apartment building, versus taking him home to lay about on an make-shift bed on the ground floor of his house. That’s what they did the first time he got injured. I think he’s going to go speak to the landlord about an elevator, or about moving them to the ground floor if possible or something. I think he was just thinking out loud to distract himself from worrying, though he needn’t have. You did a good job of getting Oikawa home safely,” Daichi said, smiling into Suga’s hair.

“Yeah, thanks. And guess what?” Suga turned to look up mischievously at Daichi.

“What?” Daichi asked.

“He gave in!”

“Finally, huh? He really had been missing out on the power of your headrubs of yours, Suga. Though, I have to ask you to stop giving them out so freely, it’s a headache and a half dissuading your pleased customers from trying to kidnap you,” Daichi said, ruffling Suga’s hair.

Suga smiled up at him through his mussed hair.

“Maybe I wanted to add a little spice to our relationship, keep you on your toes, you know?” He grinned.

“Please do that… in moderation,” Daichi said, pressing a sweet kiss to Suga’s lips. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to call it a night. Goodnight, Suga,” he said, parting from Suga, and heading off to his own room. It was a true that they were living together, but it had been more for the convenience of finding convenient housing and roommates than because of their budding relationship. And they weren’t as comfortable as Iwaizumi and Oikawa were at casually wandering into each other’s beds for the night. They were still used to having their own space, and were just getting used to sharing some of it with each other rather than the family they had grown up with. So for now, it was off to separate bedrooms for the two of them. Although, Suga thought wistfully as he headed into his own room and closed the door, the extra body warmth would certainly be welcome on the colder nights.

 

∆ ∆ ∆ 

 

The next morning, it was Suga and Daichi who stopped by Iwaizumi and Oikawa’s apartment to find Iwaizumi in the midst of making breakfast. He stuck a thumb in the direction of the bedroom.

“He woke up to tell me he wants breakfast and then he went back to sleep. That lazy idiot. D’you want anything to eat?”

Daichi and Suga both declined before moving to talk a seat on the couch together, with Daichi against the arm, and Suga in the middle, sitting cross-legged. All of them had been in and out of each other’s apartments so often that they already had their preferred spots. Suga leaned his head back on the hard, but plump upholstery of the couch.

Iwaizumi and Daichi struck up a conversation about their test yesterday, and Suga listened in silence.

Suddenly, Iwaizumi perked up, almost as if some internal radar of his went off. He abruptly turned and headed into his bedroom, yelling “Stay right where you are! I told you not to move unnecessarily!” and returned with a squirming armful of Oikawa in a blanket burrito, which he deposited on the couch beside Suga, making Daichi relocate to the floor in front of the couch and moving Suga over to where he had been sitting. Iwaizumi returned to breakfast, with a “Stay!” and a stern wave of his spatula in Oikawa’s direction. A few grumbles came in response from the blanket burrito that was Oikawa, but it fell silent after a while. Then it cautiously wiggled its way up the sofa until Oikawa poked his head out from the end closest to Suga and put his head on Suga’s knee. Suga let his other leg call against Daichi’s side so that it lowered the knee Oikawa had placed his head on. Then Oikawa turned his head up and gave Suga that full force of the Sleepy Puppy Dog EyesTM.

Figuring out what he wanted, Suga shook his head slightly in mock exasperation before letting his hands drift into Oikawa’s hair, who sighed happily and snuggled further into his blanket cocoon.

“Ah,” Iwaizumi paused when he noticed Suga’s gentle patting of his boyfriend’s hair. “So, he finally gave in, huh? Pay up, Daichi.”

“What? What?” Daichi craned his up to see Suga’s confused expression as his hands stilled in Oikawa’s face, before letting out a groaned and dropped his face into his hand in a tableau of despair. Oikawa whined in dissent and patted Suga’s stopped hands insistently to get him to continue. Suga continued unconsciously.

“What? What’s going on, Daichi? Why are you giving Iwaizumi money?” Suga asked, still confused.

“Oikawa’s always been a bit frosty towards you, but neither Iwaizumi nor I thought it would take long for him to succumb to your charm. You’re kind of irresistible, Suga,” Daichi said in all honesty, and then turned red. Suga turned equally red.

“And then Hyuuga-san and her girlfriend joined in, and someone suggested that we should just bet on it, and make it official since we were so invested in it. So we did,” Iwaizumi continued, taking the money from Daichi.

“Should have known Iwaizumi would win though, he knows Oikawa too well,” Daichi grumbled.

“Wait,” Suga said, mind just coming online. “Is this why you encouraged me to keep an eye on him? Knowing that he may turn to me for comfort in his time of need? That’s… kind of evil, Iwaizumi. I didn’t expect it of you.”

“What? No! No matter how much Oikawa actually annoys me, I do actually care for him. I wouldn’t use him as bait like that for such a petty reason” Iwaizumi said indignantly. Then he pinked, and looked away. “Although, knowing how much Oikawa pushes himself, it was likely that there might come a time when he pushes himself too much and did to recuperate, which is when he always gets really touchy-feely then, so… it was a possibility…and besides he clearly likes you, he's the one who changed your name to 'Sugawara Koushi-chan on my phone...”

“What?” Daichi and Suga exclaimed.

Iwaizumi waved his hands dissuasively. “But it could have just as likely have been me! So that makes your point moot!”

“I’m not convinced,” Daichi said, folding his arms. “I will have a talk with Hyuuga-san and her girlfriend, and we shall decide your fate. Until then, give me back my hard-earned cash!”

“Fine,” Iwaizumi said grumpily. “I made tamagoyaki for everyone though, but maybe you don’t trust me enough to eat it…”

“Oh, we’re eating the tamagoyaki, Iwaizumi. You’re a damn good cook, and we’re not turning down free food.”

And so peace was restored among the four of them, as the emotional impasse between Oikawa and Suga that had heretofore existed, was wiped away by an evening of hurt/comfort. This is not to say that the four of them were to going to live happily ever after beside each other for the rest of their university career (that would be unrealistic), but that peace was temporarily restored through the effects of the magical headrub. As long as that was clear to all involved _._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I need a beta-reader. I've never had one before, so I'm not sure how this whole things works, or maybe I'm just complicating things too much... Anyway, contact me [here](uppie-tan.tumblr.com) if you're interested!
> 
> Otherwise, I have exciting news! I got my friends to take me to drop-in volleyball and I actually got to play volleyball for the first time! It was totally an informal game, so we rotated through the positions. I was terrible at everything except serving, which I was slightly less terrible at. I still enjoyed myself immensely though! :D And I made sure to double-check my Haikyuu volleyball knowledge with people in the know so that I can separate the real from the fictional, or in this case, what terms are international and what are exclusive to Japan. For example: there is no such position as "ace", it's just what the Japanese refer to as the strongest player, or in this case, the strongest spiker. But otherwise, Furudate Haruichi-sensei has done a pretty damn good job of presenting volleyball accurately.


	6. The Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A scary dude, a scary dude with no hair and a smallish dude with really tight pants walk into an apartment...

"Um," Asahi said, nervously clutching his satchel. "If you two don't mind, I'm going on ahead."

 The air crackled visibly. He gulped.

 "Bye!" He yelped, and practically sprinted up the stairs.

Despite knowing it was a temporary solace, Asahi did actually feel better once he put a couple of floors between him and the storm brewing downstairs. He took a moment to gather himself, and then walked forward to check the names mounted beside each apartment door, until he found the one he was looking for.

He knocked hesitantly on the door, hoping he got the right one, even though he knew it wasn't likely that there were _two_ people called Sawamura who both lived with people called Sugawara in the same building.

The door opened, and Iwaizumi stepped out.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Ah!" Asahi said, looked mortified. Apparently, common sense was not on his side today. Iwaizumi looked around for a source of this panic, and finding none, stared up at this strangely panicky person who stood in front of him.

"I’m sorry!" Asahi said fervently, waved his hands about as if that would dispel his apparent mistake. "I must have gotten the wrong apartment. Sorry again!" He squeaked out and dashed off only to be stopped by the stormy duo who had finally reached the top of the stairs.

Iwaizumi looked after him curiously, feeling a strange sense of familiarity tugging at his memory now, as he took in the suspicious man gesticulating wildly to the two people who had appeared at the top of the stairs - one that looked like a kid - who was wearing the tightest pants he had ever seen, what were his parents letting their kid out dressed like that? - and a bald man. 

"Yo, are you guys from Karasuno?" He called from the open doorway.

The suspicious man froze and turned around. The kid with the tight pants pushed forward and answered: "Yeah. Do you know our senpais, Sawamura and Sugawara? We were told they live in this building."

"Yeah," Iwaizumi smiled at them, and stepped out to hold the door more open. "This is their apartment, come on in."

The three of them looked surprised, and the kid crossed his hands across his chest, contemplating Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi simply held the door open wider.

Suddenly, the kid yanked the other two down for an avid conversation amongst themselves, where he seemed to question Suspicious Panicky Dude who nodded profusely at whatever he said. Then the bald man stood back with a proud smile and flexed his biceps before they all nodded firmly at each other, and turned to face Iwaizumi. Well, the suspicious man still looked apologetic, but Iwaizumi gathered that that seemed to be his default expression.

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow at them all.

The three of them marched over and entered the apartment, murmuring the usual greeting as they entered and took off their shoes in the entryway. Iwaizumi directed them to the low table in the living room, and asked them if they would like tea. They did, so he told them make themselves comfortable while he went into the kitchen to make tea. He heard a murmuring stir from the visiting trio in the living room, who apparently hadn't figured out who he was yet, and who didn't know what to make of the fact that there was a strange man in their ex-teammates' living room.

The reason he actually was in Daichi and Suga's apartment rather than his own was because those two had taken Oikawa for a walk to do some grocery shopping now that the doctor had cleared him to do so. Given Kageyama and Hinata's recent unexpected visit, Daichi had asked him if he could keep on eye on the apartment since he had to stay behind to complete an assignment (which he had just finished) since something told Suga who consequently told him that their old classmates might decide to drop by unexpectedly - as it seemed like none of them had the sense to call ahead.

To be honest, Iwaizumi was a bit jealous of the attention these two were getting from their old team. The volleyball club at Karasuno seemed more of a sort of second family who played volleyball competitively together than a team. Sure, the kouhai they had left behind at Aoba Jousai had respected them and likely still did, but there had always been a sense of professional distance between the senpais and the kouhais on the teams. And that professional distance did not translate into affection and unexpected visits. Iwaizumi tried picturing Kindaichi and Kunimi dropping by unexpectedly and shivered, creeped out. Fictional Kunimi was making a face like curdled milk and fictional Kindaichi looked terrified, held at fictional water gun point by Oikawa. Speaking of Oikawa, he was predictably taking these unexpected Karasuno visits in the worst way possible. Which translated into loudly and dramatically.

When Iwaizumi returned with the tea, the three visitors all fall silent and stared up at him, still without recognition. Annoyance ticked at him.

"I'm Iwaizumi Hajime by the way," he said, setting the tea down and taking a seat across from them. He watched as recognition dawned comically on their faces. "You know, the former ace of Aoba Jousai," he finally, keeping one knee up, and slinging his arm on it for it for full dramatic effect.

_My, Iwa-chan, so melodramatic,_ whispered his inner Oikawa, sidling up to him phantom-like in his imagination.Iwaizumi simply kicked his mental Oikawa and tumbling and wailing off into a twinkle in the sky. It was probably his fault anyway that Iwaizumi was resorting to melodrama.

In front of him, Asahi froze into a stone-like state and Nishinoya and Tanaka fell over in shock. Iwaizumi just smirked into his tea, as he drank it one-handed, milking the situation for the coolness factor.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

After the three visitors returned to a semi-human-like state, they introduced themselves so that they could ply Iwaizumi with questions: What are you doing here? Is Oikawa-san around? (They regarded innocent pieces of furniture with suspicion as they posed this question). Why are you in Daichi-san and Suga-san's apartment? Are you holding them hostage? Wait, is this tea poisoned? You damn- wait, what was Aoba Jousai's mascot again? How are we supposed to insult them if we don't know what their mascot is? And so on.

Iwaizumi weathered the questions patiently. He shot down the possibility of Oikawa hiding in the furniture - yes, he was bigger than that lamp, stop eyeing it like that, Tanaka-san. He assuaged their frankly ridiculous insinuations that he may have kidnapped their ex-teammates (really, what sort of university student did they take him for? No student he knew had either the time or the money to kidnap someone _and_ maintain a respectable GPA)…

Speaking of the three missing persons: he had already texted his neighbours to let them know that he had three of their ex-teammates in the living room: two scary guys and a kid. Suga had seemed confused about who the second scary guy was, but seemed to have figured it out by the next text. Iwaizumi also advised them to restrain Oikawa by any means necessary if his jealousy reached scaring-the-public bounds. He did not want any of them to become persona non grata in that store since they had the best nikuman (meat buns) he had ever tasted.

He then assured the three visitors that no, the tea was not poisoned, and no, he was not going to tell them what Aoba Jousai's mascot was, because he might actually have to brainwash them now that they had thought to ask. They flinched suitably at this threat.

Seeing that the three were gathering up steam to ask some more ridiculous questions, Iwaizumi distracted them with the one that was guaranteed to snag their attention:

"You know, you guys are quite inspiring to play against, in all those matches where we faced each other," He said.

_Compliments. And volleyballs. And compliments about volleyball._

"Of course," said Nishinoya and Tanaka in unison, taking the bait. "Karasuno is the best after all." Even Asahi smiled happily at the compliment.

Iwaizumi congratulated himself on the inside.

Outwardly, he laughed. "Well, I wouldn't say that. Of course, I still have my pride in Aoba Jousai, we can still put out a good fight on the court."

"That's true, your Oikawa-san is scary, I don't know how Kageyama is still standing after facing him off so many times," Asahi shivered.

Nishinoya slapped him soundly on the back. Iwaizumi noticed that Tanaka made a face a this, although Nishinoya and Asahi were oblivious. "That's because Kageyama can be equally scary. Did you _see_ the way he launched himself at Shouyou after he accidentally served the ball into his head?" He turned to Iwaizumi and pointed. "You would _not_ want to be on the receiving end of that."

"That's nice," Iwaizumi said, with a fond smile.

"Nice?" The three of them chorused in disbelief.

"Kageyama always got that intense when he actually cared. Otherwise, he was just a dismissive juice-drinking idiot, which would really annoy our teammates in middle school. Particularly Oikawa," Iwaizumi mused, thinking back to the past.

"Oh yeah, you two were at junior high together, right? Kitagawa Daiichi?"

"Yep,” Iwaizumi said wistfully. “Things have really changed since then. For the better.”

"Yeah," both Asahi and Nishinoya agreed, both of them smiling softly, carefully not looking at each other. Tanaka glared at the two of them from the side.

Oh, could the tension in the room be less obvious.

"OK," Iwaizumi said suddenly. They looked across at him with startled looks. "What's up with the three of you? And don't pretend otherwise, there is clearly something bothering you," he pointed at Tanaka, "...about you," he pointed at Nishinoya.

_Iwaaaaaa-chaaaaan,_  his inner Oikawa was back, wailing on the floor.  _What are you doing? Even **I** know not to poke at the metaphorical bear in the room!_

_Shut up, Oikawa. You're not home, and these two are bugging me with their passive-aggressiveness. Who knows, I might actually be doing then a favour, getting them to work it out._

Oikawa just continued wailing in his head, so he ignored him.

Asahi looked about ready to faint.

Nishinoya and Tanaka both jumped up and pointed at each other.

"See, see, you do have a problem with me. Even Iwaizumi-san sees it!" Nishinoya cried.

"OK, fine, you know what, I'm done trying to be nice, and trying to spare your feelings, but it's gotten too much, so let's have it out," Tanaka shot back, going into some sort of pseudo fighting stance.

"Yeah, let me have it. What's bugging you?" Nishinoya glared back, crossing his arms.

"You and Asahi-san, that's what!"

Nishinoya and Tanaka bore twin looks of shock, and Asahi looked ready to fly the coop at any given opportunity.

Nishinoya stood his ground.

"What about me and Asahi-san, Ryuu?"

"Nishi-" Asahi began in a wavering voice. Nishinoya out his hand out behind him, silencing Asahi.

"It's OK, I got this, Asahi-san, you don't need to worry," Nishinoya said, looking vaguely like the hero of a sci-fi movie facing off the enemy. He stared Tanaka down. "What about me and Asahi-san, Ryuu?"

"You-, you're suddenly spending all your time with him! And you even have inside jokes, don't pretend I don't see you two giggling away! And before you question if I even know what an inside joke is..."

_I don't think anybody here is questioning that, Tanaka-_ san, Iwaizumi thought, taking another sip of his tea. He wished he had thought to bring pop-corn, real life drama was way more fun to watch when he was not the center of it.

His inner Oikawa whimpered from where it was curled into a ball.

"...I _do_ know too! Because we used to have those, Noya-san, and now we don't, because you spend all your time with Asahi-san!" Tanaka yelled, gesturing between the two of them. "Even my sister noticed, and she's not even around most of the time!"

"I can't help that, Ryuu!" Nishinoya yelled in response. "I have other friends beside you, do you not want me to spend time with them?"

"No!" Tanaka said. Then: "Yes!"

"You can’t choose both!" Nishinoya yelled. "Pick one!"

"I pick both dammit!" Ryuu said indignantly. "You've always been friends with Daichi-san, and Suga-san, and yes, even Asahi-san, and then you made friends with the Hinata and Kageyama, and the new first-years, and I know you're friends with them all and as their really cool senpai, they want you to hang out with them somtimes, and that's cool with me, you know, I think everybody should know you, you're awesome..."

"Aw, thanks, Ryuu, I think you're awesome too!" Nishinoya interrupted, swatting his hand in a bashful manner. Asahi smiled fondly in the background.

Ryuu grinned at the compliment, before continuing in a quieter, more even tone voice: "But now you're spending more time with Asahi-san out of everyone else, and less time with me. And that hurts."

_Ah, the moment of truth,_ Iwaizumi thought. Internal Oikawa had uncurled out of his ball, and was listened intently, chewing on fictional popcorn. Damn the powers of imagination.

"Aw, Ryuu. That's normal, you know this was going to happen one day. I mean, didn't we promise each other that we would never grow apart even if we went to different places after high school? If we got a girlfriend and wanted to spend time with her?" Nishinoya asked quasi-steadily though his voice wavered on the last question.

Asahi sucked in a breath. Iwaizumi glanced at him curiously.

"Yeeees," Tanaka said slowly. "But what does that have to do with how much time you've been spending over at Asahi-san's house instead of mine? It's not like you have a girlfriend there or something. You don't, do you?" He eyed Asahi with suspicion, who was studiously not catching his eye.

"No, Ryuu," Nishinoya said patiently, "I don't have a girlfriend. Asahi-san and I have just become...” Nishinoya paused and snuck a glance at Asahi, who blushed and looking away. “…really _close_ over last summer and over the school year, um, as friends? So sometimes I'd like to spend time with him. It's not like we see each other at practice anymore anyway, unless he comes by to visit, so I go to his place sometimes, just like I go to yours, that's all. You're still my best friend, Ryuu. That's not gonna change anytime soon. And I don't want that to change." Nishinoya said with conviction.

Iwaizumi looked over to see Tanaka’s reaction and flinched. He was crying openly, streams of tears running down his cheeks. Asahi wiped at his eyes discretely. Iwaizumi passed him a tissue.

"Nooooooyaaaa-saaaan, that was so cooool! If I was a girl, I would have fallen in love with you straight away!" Tanaka said, rushing forward to throw his arms around Nishinoya and weep into his shoulder.

Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow at his last statement.

Nishinoya freeze with his arms about to return Tanaka's hug, and looked over at Asahi, a question in his eyes. Asahi shrugged and offered him a crooked smile, which seemed to be answer enough since Nishinoya promptly threw his arms around Tanaka and hugged him to within an inch of his life.

Seriously, boa constrictors were less deadly.

After they parted, and Tanaka clapped Asahi on the back in some sort of 'manly' pardon and Iwaizumi ensured everybody had sufficient tissues in hand, peace was restored. And since it was restored, this meant that Nishinoya and Asahi had taken this as a go-ahead to blatantly sprawl all over in each other in a way that was distinctly more than friendly for Japanese people. Tanaka seemed oblivious, since he kept happily telling Iwaizumi in many different ways how glad he was that Nishinoya had another friend as awesome as him.

Well, Iwaizumi wasn't one to complain, considering how much skinship his former team and let him and Oikawa get away with, and the Aoba Jousai volleyball club was _definitely_ a lot more observant than Tanaka.

However, out of the goodness of his heart, or because he was bored, Iwaizumi distracted Tanaka with a Smash battle challenge on the Wii that either Daichi or Suga had smuggled in from home. Tanaka leapt to the task with fire in his eyes, and Nishinoya jumped in right after. Iwaizumi managed to find three of the Wiimotes, and was about to suggest that they take turns with one of them when Asahi graciously waved him off and said that he was fine with simply watching from the sidelines (and apparently serving as a human armchair for Nishinoya who had appropriated his lap at some point). If anything, Asahi looked content with the whole situation, sitting on the floor with his arms curled around Nishinoya's stomach and his chin on Nishinoya's head.

Tanaka was already too immersed in picking the stage and his character to care at this point about how his friends were clearly overstepping the bounds of friendship right beside him.

_Ah, the bliss of ignorance_ , thought Iwaizumi, before being distracted by the fact that they had all simultaneously picked Kirby for some strange reason and were now trying to viciously devour each other and spit each other out like projectiles to knock each other far off-screen to their imminent demise.

Nishinoya won. And won again. And crowed with victory, in response to which Asahi smiled proudly and happily nuzzled the top of his head so that the hair at the back of Nishinoya’s head now stood up in odd tufts.

Then Tanaka trounced them in the next level when he switched to Samus, either because she was an awesome warrior or because Tanaka finally got his timing down right. He whipped his shirt off to celebrate while Iwaizumi looked on in alarm, before he gathered that this was usual celebratory behaviour for Tanaka. He jumped into the next battle with renewed vigour, but of course, this was just the beginning of Tanaka’s lucky streak.

After successfully beating Nishinoya's previous 3-win streak, Tanaka paused the game and stood up abruptly, blocking their view of the screen.

"Ryuu!" Nishinoya waved his hand at him agitatedly. "Get out the way!”

"Ssssh, I just thought of something awesome," Ryuu said in all seriousness, "you know what this calls for?"

"No,” Nishinoya whined, wriggling. “Tell us or move already!" Asahi stroked his tummy comfortingly and he calmed down.

"A celebration," Ryuu said. Then he picked up Asahi's hand, and gently placed his controller within his grasp, before placing his hand on Asahi’s. He regarded Asahi with intent and said: "I'm counting on you. When in doubt, button smash. It's always worked for me. Don't let me down," and then with a hop, skip and a jump, he put on his shirt, picked up his bag and left the apartment with a sense of finality.

They stared after him for awhile before Nishinoya said: "So, back to the game?"

They all looked up at him, and Asahi shrugged and unpaused the game. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," Iwaizumi paused the game, ignoring Nishinoya's indignant ‘ _Hey!’._ "Where's he gone?"

"The convenience store across the street probably. His idea of celebration involves beer or ice cream or both. Now can we get back to the game?" Nishinoya whined, twisting around in Asahi's lap. Asahi was looking a bit flushed now, but Iwaizumi ignored him. 

"Wait, if you guys are going to drink this late, does that mean that you're planning on staying over? Are Daichi and Suga going to be okay with this? What about your _parents_?" Iwaizumi asked, the pitch of his voice going higher and higher. He was already eternally stuck being the responsible adult in his boyfriend's life, why did he now have to be the responsible adult in his neighbours' kouhais' lives too?

"Hey, chill, it's OK," Nishinoya said reassuringly, waving his free hand about (the other held the controller). "Kageyama and Hinata told us that Daichi and Suga were cool with them staying over when they came to visit. And they had two extra futons for them to sleep in, we can figure out how to divide up sleeping arrangements. As for our parents, they don't mind us drinking. Or staying over. They've already let me and Ryuu have a bit of alcohol with meals and stuff and I've stayed over at Ryuu's multiple times."

"I think this situation is just a little bit different, Nishinoya-san," Iwaizumi said, rubbing his temples. "Please give me peace of mind and check in with your parents first. And Tanaka-san's too."

Nishinoya looked like he was about to protest, before Asahi quietly dissuaded him, reminding him that they were guests in someone else's house. He pouted, falling silent. Then he twisted over too look up at Asahi, throwing one arm over Asahi's neck as he did so.

"Can you get my phone Asahi-san? It's just... there, in my back pocket," Nishinoya pointed to said pocket with a sultry twist to his smile. The pocket of his skin-tight, crotch-hugging pants.

Asahi turned beet red.

Iwaizumi face-palmed, before getting up with a sigh. "Flirt all you guys want, just report back to me when you’ve got the go-ahead from your parents about staying over. I'll be in the kitchen, drowning my misery in my cold tea, like the responsible adult I am," he grumbled as he left the room.

Nishinoya smirked at Iwaizumi's departing back, before that look melted back into a concerned one when he looked over to find Asahi covering his eyes with both hands.

"Asahi-san," Nishinoya coaxed, voice turning voice, sitting on his knees in front of Asahi. He placed his hands over Asahi's and tried to gently pry them away from his face. "Look at me, Asahi-san," he said. "it's OK, tell me what's bothering you?"

"Nishinoya, I- I-, don't take this the wrong way," Asahi glanced up at Nishinoya, whose height when kneeling put him above Asahi's sitting eye level, and seeing only soft affection and encouragement, continued: "I appreciate, I think that's the word I mean? I appreciate your ad-advances, and while I think Iwaizumi-san wasn't put off in a bad way by them tonight, I think we should be cautious about how we show our affection for each other in public. I mean, we just got Tanaka-san to accept that we will be spending more time with each other because we're close fr-friends now, I don't know how OK he would be right now if he discovered that we were more than that." Asahi finished, looking at Nishinoya earnestly.

Nishinoya stared at Asahi so long that he began wilting in self-doubt, until he suddenly had an armful of libero when Nishinoya threw his arms around Asahi's neck and sighed loudly into the side of it, blowing air out like a deflating balloon so it tickled Asahi's neck and fanned his hair a little bit.

Asahi shivered a bit. "Wha-, wha-," he squawked.

"I understand," Nishinoya said quietly, unconsciously playing with Asahi’s hair. "Even though it sucks. And I have a feeling you also want to talk about the whole," he wiggled his hand around his butt area, "earlier incident with getting my phone out of my pocket thing."

Asahi turned even redder, which didn't seem possible, but he nodded.

"Yes, I think that was taking things a little too fast for me," he admitted. "I think we might need to maybe talk about those things first, instead of rushing in?" He suggested hopefully.

"Sure, Asahi-san," Nishinoya mumbled, rubbing his face into Asahi's shoulder. "I can do that. Although-" he held up one finger in front of Asahi's face. "-I'd just like to make one thing clear as well. And I want you not to spontaneously combust when I say it, because I'm just telling you the truth," he pulled back to cup Asahi's face in his hands, "OK?"

Asahi looked him in the eyes with watery determination. "OK," he agreed.

"Good," Nishinoya said, and then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about pushing you beyond what you were ready for. I guess I’ve liked you for longer than I have, which means that I have gotten around to thinking about you sexually, and I, I don’t know, I guess I was frustrated and a bit turned on by how clandestine and adult this whole day has seemed, coming to visit our friends in _university_ and possibly spending the night in the same room with you for the first time, it was just, I was just going on instinct and what _I_ wanted. Hence the pants," Nishinoya valiantly refrained from slapping himself on the butt to emphasize this point because even he recognized that it would be inappropriate given the serious tone of the conversation. So he continued: "You've already made me so happy by reciprocating my feelings and daring to _be_ in this relationship with me, that that's enough for me. Anything else is just my selfish desire to monopolize you, _all_ of you that you're willing to give to me." Asahi was starting to look like he was close to reaching that combustion point but he held he held Nishinoya's gaze with some hidden force of will. Nishinoya smiled at him proudly, before leaning forward and planting a soft kiss on Asahi's lips. Asahi smiled into the kiss, and then they parted. Nishinoya jumped up.

"I guess I should get to making those phonecalls, huh? Might as well call Ryuu's parents as well, who knows when he's going to get back here with the beer," he asked, reaching back into his pocket to try and fish his phone out of his pocket. After a few fruitless attempts, he stopped, and looked Asahi in the eye.

"Uuuh," he began, "given our recent conversation, I'm going to need you to turn around. Trust me," he said.

Asahi covered his face with his hands and spun around immediately.

Nishinoya huffed out a laugh. At least now he knew how _useful_ these pants were going to be whenever he and Asahi decided to get frisky. He unbuttoned the pants and unzipped them to give them a little slack, and then reached into the back pocket and pulled out the phone easily. He mentally lamented the wasted seduction potential of the current situation, but decided to store it away for future plans, before zipping and buttoning up the pants again.

He let Asahi know he could turn around, and by the time he did so very gingerly, Nishinoya was already on the phone.

After two successful phone calls where he got the go ahead from his parents and was on the phone to Ryuu's, Tanaka showed up with the beer. The moment his dad answered, Nishinoya trust the phone at him to tell him to prove to his father that he was alive and well and not in any of the crazy situations his dad was imagining. Nishinoya then discovered Asahi had _already_ told his parents that he was going to be staying over _that morning_ , and was currently unpacking clothes from an overnight bag, because he was actually smart about these things and realized that they would, in all likelihood, stay over.

At some point in time, Iwaizumi wandered over, assuming the ruckus meant someone had arrived, likely Tanaka with the beer, and swiping an Asahi Super Dry from the plastic bag, went to take a seat with his controller.

Nishinoya was already lightly teasing Asahi about sharing his name with a beer brand, who was blushing prettily. They seemed to have sorted out the sexual tension from before, which Iwaizumi was glad of. Being around people who were showing a bit too much sexual affection for each other in public always made him feel awkward.

He was only planning to drink his one beer, which wasn't going to make him drunk since he had built up at least that much of a tolerance (and he usually kept to the limit he set for himself), and Asahi has graciously declined to drink, so between the both of them, they could keep Nishinoya and Tanaka in line if needed.

He shot a quick text to Daichi and Suga as warning anyway, as Tanaka got his controller back from Asahi and unpaused the game, bemoaning the fact that he had entrusted Asahi with his winstreak and Asahi had done  _nothing_ in the time he had gone. Asahi just apologized, smiling, Nishinoya sitting in the cradle of his arms again, but this time sitting on top of a sofa cushion.

 

**Iwaizumi Hajime**  
 _Just a heads-up, but Tanaka bought alcohol. Dw, we've got it under control. I'm sticking to one beer, and Azumane-san isn't drinking. Also, they're staying over so we won't have to worry about them getting home safely, which is why I didn't stop them in the first place. I made them call their parents to let them know just in case.  
_ _6:48 pm_  

**Thighs of Steel**  
 _... Those idiots.  
_ _6:51 pm_  

**Thighs of Steel**   
_Suga says you did the right thing.  
_ _6:54 pm_

 

**Oikawa-san is the best boyfr**   
_YOURE DRINKING WITHOUT ME HOW DARE YOU LET THOSE UNWORTHY CROWS SEE YOU DRUNK  
_ _6:53 pm_

**Iwa-chan**   
_I'm not getting drunk idiot I'm just having the one beer  
_ _6:54 pm_

**Iwa-chan**   
_Also how did you get into my phone again I changed my password after you got in last time and renamed all my contacts  
_ _6:56 pm_

**Iwa-chan**   
_And how do you know that daichis legs are made of steel  
_ _6:56 pm_

**Oikawa-san is the best boyfr**   
_My my my Iwa-chan are you jealous?  
_ _6:57 pm_

**Iwa-chan**  
 _Shut up Oikawa forget I asked. Also I see you avoiding answering how you got into my phone again  
_ _6:58 pm_  

**Oikawa-san is the best boyfr**   
_;p not telling you'll probably figure it out anyway  
_ _7:01 pm_

 

**Thighs of Steel**   
_We're on our way.  
_ _7:00 pm_

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

When Oikawa, Suga and Daichi came home, they entered to the sounds of the battle royale. Entering the living room, they found Asahi, Nishinoya and Tanaka sitting on the ground in front of the couch, avidly playing Smash (at some point, Iwaizumi had forsaken his controller so that Asahi could finally get a turn, and he was now curled up on the couch, doing something on his phone). Hearing them enter, Nishinoya leaned his head back on Asahi’s shoulder and grinned at them upside-down.

“Suga-san! Daichi-san! It’s been a while!” he called happily, before disengaging himself from Asahi, who turned to look after his boyfriend with a fond smile as he leaped into Suga’s waiting arms, wrapping himself around him like a koala bear. Nishinoya nuzzled Suga while Suga held on to him, one hand under his bum to stop him slipping down and the other around his back to stop him falling back.

Daichi was trying to scowl and failing, fondness seeping into his expression.

“You’re all idiots,” he said instead.

Nishinoya, Tanaka, Asahi and Suga grinned at him.

Iwaizumi grumbled to himself on the couch.

“Ay-oh, everyone,” called a cheery voice from behind Daichi and Suga, “Where’s my beloved Iwa-chan? I’ve come to take you home~!”

There was a gasp from Tanaka and Nishinoya, the latter of who let go of his Suga-tree in his surprise and fell into Asahi’s waiting arms (he had scrambled forward instinctively). Despite his surprise, Tanaka flashed Asahi a thumbs-up: “Nice receive!”

“It’s about time,” Iwaizumi grumbled. “I’ve had enough of being responsible for one day. It’s all up to you now, Oikawa and you better not disappoint.”

“Aw, poor Iwa-chan, left all alone with these crazy Karasuno freaks,” Oikawa murmured soothingly as he approached Iwaizumi and knelt on his haunches so that he was at eye level with Iwaizumi.

“We used to play for Karasuno too…?” Suga interjected with a smile.

“Who said being called ‘crazy’ was a bad thing? Iwaizumi calls me ‘crazy’ practically every day and yet we’re- mhmphf,” Oikawa glared at Iwaizumi was currently grabbing him by the face to stop him from talking. He tapped Iwaizumi’s hand aggressively.

“Are you going to say something you really shouldn’t in present company?” Iwaizumi asked.

Oikawa glared at him and shook his head.

Iwaizumi let go.

“I was going to say ‘best friends’, Iwa-chan, do you have a problem with me telling people we’re best friends?”

“Sometimes,” Iwaizumi answered honestly, his brain-to-mouth filter faltering considering the late hour and _Oikawa_.

“What do you mean, ‘sometimes’?!” Oikawa asked indignantly

“Dun wanna explain anything right now,” Iwaizumi said, getting up so suddenly Oikawa found himself with his facin front of Iwaizumi’s crotch. He leaned back and looked up at Iwaizumi with a smirk. Iwaizumi stared down at him with a stoic expression before flicking him in the head.

To the rest of the people in the room, he said: “So I’m pretty sure I’ve done multiple good deeds for today, for all of you,” he swept the room with a pointing finger to indicate just who this included. “And I’m going to next door to sleep. Have fun, be safe and shut up. Goodnight,” and he trekked over to the door, leaving Oikawa still on his haunches by the couches. The door shut behind him resolutely.

Oikawa suddenly popped up and spun around. He waved at the three Karasuno people he had yet to be introduced to and introduced himself with a wink and a salute: “Hel _lo_. I’m Oikawa-saaan~. Nice to finally meet you!”

Tanaka reached over cautiously and poked him in the leg. Then shrank back, holding his hands in front of him like a scared rabbit.

“He’s real!”

“Of course, he’s real, how much did you drink”? Daichi spit out.

“I didn’t even drink that much, Daichi-san, why you gotta get all mad,” Tanaka mumbled.

“Ryuu’s terrible at holding his liquor,” Nishinoya confided.

“’Ey!” Tanaka said pointing his bottle, bottom side out at Nishinoya. “Secrets! You don’t tell them!”

“It wasn’t a secret, Ryuu,” Nishinoya laughed, taking a sip out of his own beer. “Everybody knows that.”

“I didn’t,” Daichi murmured to himself. “Didn’t want to know.”

“Whaaa?” Nishinoya asked in surprise. “Everybody knows Ryuu can’t handle his liquor. Haven’t you ever been drinking with him?”

“Nope,” chorused everybody else in the room. Except Oikawa. Oikawa seemed to have gone AWOL at some point. Nobody really noticed.

“That’s just you, Nishinoya,” Suga added. “Besides, what sort of captain would Daichi be if he encouraged the team to drink socially?”

“An awesome one!” Tanaka chimed in. Then hiccupped.

“No, a terrible one, Tanaka. I think you’ve had enough to drink. Give me the bottle,” Daichi said, going towards him.

“I dun wanna. Ish my baybeh. Why you wanna take my baybeh away, huh? Why?” Tanaka said, curling protectively around his bottle.

Nishinoya giggled away. “Hi-larious,” he said, taking another sip.

“I think you better stop too, Nishinoya,” Suga said, coming towards where Nishinoya had returned to his place in Asahi’s lap. Suga sat down beside the two of them, and raised an eyebrow at Asahi, then at Nishinoya. Asahi looked down at Nishinoya in his lap and then panicked, coming to realize that just how close Nishinoya and he were and what it must look like to Suga, being the most astute person he had ever known, and worrying that he was going to-

Suga flicked him on the head, stopping Asahi's thoughts in their tracks.

"Ow!" Asahi said, hands flying to the injured spot. "Suga!"

“So, I guess congratulations is in order?” Suga said softly, so that Tanaka wouldn’t pick up on it. Nishinoya had looked up at Suga's words, and was now grinning happily.

"Yep," he said, flashing Suga a thumbs-up. Apparently, he wasn't drunk enough to misunderstand subtlety.

Asahi blushed.

"You know you guys are really trying your luck right now?" Suga said.

Asahi looked ashamed.

Suga sighed and ruffled his hair. "At least it was just us and Iwaizumi-san. We're probably the least likely to judge you two out of anybody you could possibly accidentally reveal it to." He smiled at them, waiting for it to click.

Realization dawned on Asahi, he looked shocked.

"You mean, you and Daichi...?" He asked slowly. Suga was about to say 'yes', might as well come clean with it, he has pretty much alluded as much already, when Asahi went, rather weakly, "All these years?"

Suga snacked him with the paper fan that he was rather apt to whip out of thin air these days.

"Asahi, I'm the same age as you. It hasn't been as long as you're imagining, please stop that. And yes to your first, sane question," Suga said in exasperation.

Asahi broke into a smile, so much so that Suga almost felt bad for hitting him. Almost.

"Congratulations to you two, then," he said with a soft smile. Nishinoya happened to tune back in time to see that, and clapped his hands on Asahi's cheeks, and turned to look at him with an intense look on his face.

"Asahi-san," he intoned. "You're too cute." Suddenly, his face was too close to Asahi's and getting closer as Asahi's eyes widened and suddenly he was flat on his back and Suga was pulling Nishinoya away, kicking and struggling and making grabby hands in the empty air.

"Asahi, could you please put the futons out? Daichi, tell him where they are," Suga said, in an overly loud voice, and swept Nishinoya with him out the front door.

Asahi turned and met Daichi's eyes and gulped. There was a cold, cold fire in them that promised much pain. Slowly, Daichi pointed out the direction of the futons.

"Turn the corner, there's a closet between the two bedrooms. The futons will be there. There are only two, so we will discuss appropriate sleeping arrangements later, once I trounce Tanaka's ass at this game. Are we clear?" Daichi enunciated.

"Very clear, sir!" Asahi stopped himself from saluting but it was a very near thing.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Once they were out on the walkway, leaning against the railing with the apartment door closed behind them, did Suga let Nishinoya go, who calmly pulled out a juicebox from his pocket and sticking the straw in, began drinking juice, leaning on the railing to look at the night sky.

Suga sighed and leaned against the railing as well.

"You know you guys are being really obvious about your relationship, right? And in front of people who may or may not be homophobic," Suga said, looking up at the night sky.

Nishinoya sighed.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Asahi-san usually keeps me on the straight-and-narrow about it, but I was feeling frustrated tonight. And reckless. I was pissed the whole day because I thought Ryuu had figured it out and was mad at me and Asahi-san because of that, and I was really gearing up for a fight because I thought it was stupid of him to think like that, I mean, he wouldn't have been like that if I had gotten a  _girlfriend,_ and I didn't think it was right for him to get like that just because Asahi-san is a boy, I mean, he's the sweetest, the best guy really, I'm surprised he's giving me this chance, I mean, I'm half convinced I'm depriving him of the apple-pie life he deserves, but I'm too selfish and I don't want to let him go, and why are you looking at me like that, Suga-san?"

Suga had misted over at the feeling in Nishinoya's words, his worries similar in so many ways to the ones he had about being in this relationship with Daichi.

"Nishinoya," he said with feeling in his voice. "You're not the only one who's has those concerns, and you should probably tell Asahi that because I think that is something you two need to have an honest conversation about lest it grow and fester, and never give Asahi a chance to work it out with you until it's too late. And if it's any solace to you, I've known Asahi for a while now, and I've seen the way he acted around you, even before you two got into a relationship. I know that he's a wimpy fool most of the time, but he won't start something if he doesn't intend to keep at it. That's why I wasn't concerned when he said he was quitting volleyball. I know that was just the frustration talking after getting blocked so many times at the match with Date-Kyo. He thought he had failed the team, failed _you_ Nishinoya, because honestly he cared more about disappointing you than of facing Daichi's wrath that day. And you know how he terrified he is of facing Daichi's wrath."

Nishinoya looked shocked, the juicebox nearly falling from his slack hands. Suddenly his face poofed into such a bright red, it looked like there was steam wafting off it. He looked away from Suga, body curling towards the railing like a vine.

"I-I didn't know," he said in a soft voice.

Suga smiled and reached out to trace the constellations in the night sky with his index finger.

"So, what happened in the end?" Suga asked. At Nishinoya's puzzled look, he explained: "You guys were all chummy as usual when we got back, even if you and Asahi were closer than expected," Nishinoya smiled at him sheepishly. Suga shook his head fondly, before continuing with the question: "So how did you guys end up working things out?"

"Ah," Nishinoya began with a grin. "So you know how Iwaizumi-san said we owe him? Well..." And he launched into the story of how Iwaizumi basically made them resolve their problems today to relieve his own boredom.

"Oh, Iwaizumi," Suga said, shaking his head with a grin.

Nishinoya grinned too, before a look of surprise crossed his face.

"Hey, you know those knee braces I has asked you about? I'm assuming you must have figured out why I wanted to get them, right, Suga-san?" Nishinoya asked.

Still chuckling, Suga sobered up, "Yeah? I can't imagine they would have worked all that well. Asahi's as clueless as a tree branch."

"How did you know, Suga-san?" Nishinoya asked, surprised. "Yeah, Asahi-san didn't get it. He thought it was a new trend or something. And he asked me if he could try them on..."

 

_◊ ◊ ◊_

_About 7 months ago_

 

"Hey, Nishinoya," Asahi said, walking into Nishinoya's line of vision where he was bending over to do his stretches.

"Hey, Asahi-san," Nishinoya looked up with a beaming smile. It always put him in a good mood to see their ace, to talk to their ace, to... "Look, new braces!" He said, pointing to them, cutting his thoughts off. He did _not_ need to bethinking of how beautiful Asahi-san looked, framed by the rays of the evening sun, sweat beaded on his neck and hair escaping from its band to curl in wisps around Asahi's face. Dammit, he was thinking about it anyway. Asahi didn't seem to notice, sitting down on the floor now so that he could poke at Nishinoya's longer braces.

Nishinoya held still and let Asahi touch him, holding down the shivers of his body and the heated stare he wanted to level at Asahi. _Must hide it, Asahi-san doesn’t know anything, he can't suspect anything,_ he told himself.

Asahi looked up and smiled at him sheepishly, withdrawing his hand. Nishinoya missed his touch immediately.

"Sorry," Asahi said, looking embarrassed. "I was touching you for too long. That's weird, right?"

"Nah, it’s OK," Nishinoya said dismissively, hoping this would encourage Asahi to keep touching him. Oh, he was _such_ a masochist. But he couldn't help it. Ever since he realized that he kind of _like_ -liked Asahi, he had been struggling between the very ingrained assertions of heterosexuality that life had taught him so far that said he should _let these feelings go, they’re just a phase_ and his feelings for his very _male_ teammate that he _really wanted to act on, because liking Asahi felt just as natural as liking Kiyoko-san._

An idea occurred to him.

"Hey, do you want to try them on?" Nishinoya asked. "Then you'll get a better feel for them. Unless you'd rather not, I've been in them for a while now, they might be sweaty-"

"Oh, I'd like that," Asahi interrupted. Then smiled. "I can handle a bit of your sweat, Nishinoya. It's not like it's gonna turn me into a zombie or something. Daichi would kill you." he joked awkwardly.

_That awkward goofball_ , Nishinoya thought, falling in love with him more by the minute. He hid his face with his knee, focusing on pulling off the knee braces.

"Here," he said, handing them over to Asahi, who took them one by one as Nishinoya handed them over, and started pulling them over his bare legs and up to his bare knees.

_Oh sh-_ , Nishinoya cut himself off from cursing out loud by clapping a hand over his mouth. _The thigh gap, the thigh gap, oh sweet mercy._

Asahi looked at the choked noise Nishinoya has made, and instantly looking embarrassed. "If it's that terrible-," he began reaching forward to take them off. Nishinoya instinctively clapped his hands over Asahi’s on top of his knee. Asahi stilled, and looked up at Nishinoya questioningly.

"You look good in them, Asahi-san," Nishinoya said seriously. _You'd look good in anything. In nothing. In my clothes. If they'd fit. Or maybe it would be better if they didn't fit..._

Asahi blushed, but didn't withdraw his hands. So, Nishinoya did, taking control of the situation, and trying to take control of himself again. Seriously, he didn’t even know how Asahi felt about him and he was already letting his rampant teenage hormones get the better of him.

"But in the end, what matters is how you feel using them, playing in them," Nishinoya said out loud, withdrawing his hands. Asahi didn't seem particularly bereft, which hurt. "What matters in volleyball is not looking good, but wearing what helps you strengthen your game," Nishinoya said, letting volleyball fanatic in him taking charge. He stood up, and waited for Asahi to do the same. "Here," he said, leading the way to a cart full of volleyballs. "Let's try those braces out. Do you want me to set for you while you serve and spike? Or would you like me to get Suga-san?"

Asahi smiled shyly.

"If it's OK, I'd like you to set," he said.

"Fine by me," Nishinoya grinned, flashing Asahi a thumbs-up. "Gives me more time to practice setting, and gives us more time to practice working together." Inside, he felt a bit proud that Asahi had chosen him to set.

And so they practiced, Nishinoya relishing giving his mind over to the rhythm of volleyball, temporarily obliterating all memory of Asahi-san's smile, the feel of Asahi-san's hair, that _stupid_  yet wonderful thigh gap that was going to fuel his sexual fantasies for a while now...

Dammit.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Asahi decided against the longer knee braces. However, the memory of them still led to a lot of sleepless nights that added to his current feelings of doubt and frustration, led to Nishinoya blurting out one morning, when he had and Asahi has accidentally bumped into each other walking alone :

"So there was this foreign movie on TV last night, and there were two guys in it who were clearly dating. I mean like kissing, and holding hands, and other stuff. They seem pretty cool about that over there, wherever they were, and I think they can even get married there, but we, I mean, _people_ can’t here in Japan. Do you find that weird?" Nishinoya asked abruptly, and then wished he could take it back. _What was he thinking?_ But when he snuck a glance at Asahi’s face, he didn’t look disgusted, just thoughtful.

_"_ I do find that weird," Asahi said, after awhile. "I mean, I don’t understand why two guys can’t get married to each other in Japan. I mean, love is love right? Why should we stop people who  _want_ to get married? Who _want_ to start a family? I think. I don't see how that can be a terrible thing, do you?" Asahi asked, turning to Nishinoya.

Nishinoya hid a smile, looking down at his feet as he walked. A bubble of happiness burst in his chest, and sent a warm tickling through his veins. He was glad that Asahi hasn't been embarrassed about saying what he did, and once again he felt a renewed surge of rightness and faith in his love and desire for Asahi. This was the right person to fall for.

"No, I don't think that's a terrible thing, Asahi-san," Nishinoya said with a small smile, and they continued walking.

After a few minutes of silence, and many inner pep talks, Nishinoya skipped in front of Asahi to face him as he walked backwards.

"Careful, Nishinoya," Asahi called with a smile.

"I trust you to stop me from tripping and embarrassing myself, Asahi-san," Nishinoya said, really meaning the _I trust you_.

Asahi smiled.

"Hey, so, out of curiosity, what would you do if a boy confessed to you?" Nishinoya asked.

"Uh, I'd probably thank him for taking the courage to confess to me, but I'd turn him down gently fi-," Asahi said.

Nishinoya's heart sank a bit.

"Why? Are you only interested in girls, Asahi-san?" Nishinoya asked, struggling to keep his tone light.

"Oh, haha," Asahi chuckled embarrassed. "It's not that exactly, uh, I've never really told anybody this, even though I've spent a lot if time thinking about it, but-"

"You can trust me," Nishinoya said, heart beginning a rapid tattoo in anticipation of Asahi's answer. It sounded like he might still have hope.

"I don't believe in looking at the gender of the person I'd like to start a relationship with, but rather I like to go by how I connect with them on a personal level, if they make me laugh, if I make them laugh...." Asahi waved his hand in a gesture as if to signal _And all that it includes_.

"Oh, so if a person, who may or may not be a boy, but is someone you connect with, confesses to you, you'd give them a chance?" Nishinoya asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I might need some time to think about it, but yeah, I would definitely take time to consider it." Asahi said with a smile. “And, I was going to say before, when you cut me off, I’d ask if we could be friends so I could get to know him better.”

"Oh, that's good then," Nishinoya said, and let the seed of hope burst forth in his body. Unable to keep do much happiness with him, he decided to shower it on the person who induced it in the first place.

"You're so cool, Asahi-san!" Nishinoya cried as he glomped him.

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

Rather than confess than and there, though it was tempting in the light of morning sun and fresh air, Nishinoya wanted to wait for a special day, because he wanted to do what felt _right_. He kept at eye on Asahi in the meantime, not wanting anybody else to accidentally swoop in and confess, since the young kouhais tended to get scarily confident about confessing to their seniors around graduation time. Although Nishinoya felt pretty confident in that, even if someone confessed to Asahi, he felt there was no one else but the boys on the volleyball club who Asahi had ‘connected’ with enough to accept dating them right off the bat. And he was pretty sure he was the only one in the club that starstruck with Asahi. 

Anyway, most people seemed more interested in asking out third years from the soccer or basketball club rather than the volleyball club, so Nishinoya needn’t have worried. If anything, the only one who got confessed to from their club was Suga, of all people, which seemed to have surprised Daichi of all people. But Suga turned her down gently, as expected of him, for realistic reasons. Nishinoya thought it was a bit of a shame, considering he was going for the whole dramatic (and completely unpragmatic) confessing on graduation day route.

When the day dawn, bright and cool, the cherry blossoms falling from the trees to create the perfect bittersweet farewell atmosphere, he found himself imprisoned within Suga’s arms, since he appeared to be overcome the most by finality of the moment. Nishinoya tried pleading with Daichi to rescue him, but that stupid idiot seemed content to laugh at his predicament instead. Finally Shouyou came strolling along with Kageyama, and Nishinoya used his cool senpai powers to switch places so that he could go _confess to Asahi-san, dammit_.

When he finally stepped away, Shouyou and Suga were both crying freely while Kageyama stood by stiffly and politely demanded that Suga-san return - sorry, he meant _let go of_ \- Hinata so that he wouldn't have to resort to drastic measures - sorry, he meant _for everyone's safety_.

Nishinoya contemplated informing Kageyama that his possessive lunacy was showing again, but he brushed it aside. He had more important things he should be doing.

He spotted Asahi standing in a secluded spot by a tree, talking to Tsukishima, of all people. Tsukishima noticed him first, and stepped away after a curt bow to Asahi and a nod in Nishinoya's direction.

Asahi turned to greet Nishinoya with a smile, looking as if he had an inkling of what was to come. Nishinoya waved back with other hand before slipping it back in his pocket.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

Asahi nodded, an encouraging smile on his face.

"Well, I think you know where this is going," Nishinoya said, holding his hands stiffly to his sides. He dropped into a respectful bow. "I have had feelings for you for a long time, Asahi-san, and I would very much like the opportunity to date you."

"Nishinoya, lift your head," Asahi said gently, and waited until Nishinoya did so before continuing: "I admire your courage so much in confessing to me," he began before Nishinoya jumped to his own conclusions, interrupting him, heart sinking.

"Wait, what? You sound like you're rejecting me. Are you rejecting me? I thought you’d give me a chance, considering it’s, well, _me_!" Nishinoya said wildly.

"Nishinoya, Nishinoya," Asahi said, face falling quickly at Nishinoya's dismay. He clamped his hands down on Nishinoya's shoulders and rubbed soothing small circles into them with his thumbs. "I’m not rejecting you, I know this is stressful for you, but just, hear me out?"

"OK," Nishinoya said, heart still racing. He willed it to calm down. Freaking out now was not an option. He'd freak out when he was in the safety of his own room, when there was no one but him to judge him. "OK," he lifted his head and pined Asahi with an unwavering look. Unexpectedly, Asahi held it.

"OK," Asahi said, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a button. Nishinoya stared at it uncomprehending, before his gaze flicked down to Asahi's gakuran. Only one of them, _the special_ one, the sentimental one, the one people gave to special people in their lives, was missing, and, he assumed, it was the one sitting innocently in Asahi's palm.

His eyes snapped up to meet Asahi's. Asahi smiled at him.

"I'd like to give you this, Nishinoya, if you want it. And I'd like it to be a sign to you and me that although I'm not saying yes now, I'm not saying no. I'd like some time to get to know you better, before I give you my final answer," Asahi smiled encouraging.

Nishinoya gingerly picked up the button, fingers lingering on the heat of Asahi's hand. Feelings of excitement and hope bubbled up his thrust and so he did the only thing he knew to do in these situations - take it out on the culprit.

He punched Asahi in the bicep.

"You damn romantic!" He said happily.

"Ow!"

 

◊ ◊ ◊

 

_Present_

 

"And that was pretty much all it took. We got to spending more time with each other over the months that followed since Asahi-san was staying in Miyagi anyway, you know, to help run his mother's business and since he was planning to go to the local college," Nishinoya said, now sucking on the straw of an empty juice box. "That's when Ryuu started getting annoyed. But anyway, he didn't bother me. Within a month or two, Asahi said yes, and we kissed for the first time, and everything been pretty great since. I mean, Ryuu was getting madder and madder, but now thanks to Iwaizumi-san, that's all sorted out."

"For now," Suga added.

"For now," Nishinoya agreed.

There was a moment of silence before Asahi interrupted it, opening the front door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but Daichi says it's time to sleep. Tanaka’s already passed out in one of the futons," he informed them.

"Oh Ryuu," Nishinoya said smiling his head as he turned to head inside. "What are we going to do with you?"

Tanaka snored in response.

"So, sleeping arrangements," Daichi said, eyes burning into Asahi and Nishinoya. Asahi flushed. Tanaka snored.

"Nishinoya can sleep with me," Suga offered.

Daichi turned a surprised look on him. As did Asahi.

"What? No!" Daichi said. "Even _I_ -"

"Even you?" Suga asked, mischievously, lacing his arms around Nishinoya from behind. He placed his chin on top of Nishinoya's head. Nishinoya placed his hands over Suga's and looked up at Daichi innocently.

Asahi looked jealous, mouth opening as if about to say something.

"You know what I mean," Daichi interrupted, pointing a finger at Suga. "So I'd rather you not sleep in the same bed as Nishinoya. Please," he added seeing a vaguely ticked off look on Suga's face.  Suga smiled at the ‘please’, so he switched to pointing two fingers at Nishinoya and Asahi. "You two are going to share the second futon, because it's too late to go buy one at this time of night. Don't make me regret it, you especially, Nishinoya."

"Hey, why me Daichi-san?" Nishinoya asked indignantly.

"Because I know you Nishinoya," Daichi said, walking away, "And you're not the blushing flower in the relationship."

Asahi blushed, as if to prove his point. Suga smiled at them, and whispered 'good night' before following Daichi.

Then Nishinoya turned to face Asahi with a smile, and discovered Asahi already sliding into the futon.

"Oh, did you change already?" He asked, coming forward. Then he stopped, "oh, wait, I don't have my toothbrush or anything with me. Let me go ask Daichi-san or Suga-san-" he started to turn around, before he was stopped by a soft 'Nishinoya'. He turned around to see Asahi hold out his bag with a smile.

"I brought an extra toothbrush, and a change of clothes just in case you needed it," Asahi said, shyly. "I hope you don't mind."

Feeling a rush of affection, Nishinoya dropped to his knees in front of where Asahi was leaning up on his elbow, cupped his face in his hands and kissed him soundly.

They separated, but Nishinoya stayed close momentarily, taking in Asahi's pink face, rubbing unconscious circles on his cheeks with his thumbs.

"I will never mind you thinking of me, Asahi-san," Nishinoya said. Then he got up and took the bag from Asahi. He turned around to change and then realized he could just do that in the living room. He turned his head to look at Asahi to find him doing something on his phone.

"Hey, I'm just going to change here if you don't mind," he said and began stripping. Behind him he heard a squeak and chuckled as he pulled off his shirt and dug in the bag to find a worn T-shirt, he pulled it out and then over his head, finding it just a little baggy, but definitely too small to fit Asahi now. He picked at the hem of the shirt with a smile, before setting off to take off the circulation stopping pants he had on.

"Is this an old T-shirt of yours, Asahi-san?" He asked, a smile in his voice.

"Yeah," came the muffled reply. "It doesn't fit me anymore, but I hadn't gotten to throwing it out yet, so I had it. You can keep it, if you want. Or not, it's up to you."

Nishinoya was pretty sure Asahi was blushing right now. He pulled off his pants and replaced them with the drawstring ones he had found in the bag. _Good thinking, Asahi-san,_ he thought _._

"I think I'll keep it, if you don't mind, Asahi-san," Nishinoya said, setting the bag down between the futons. "Now, if you could point me to the bathroom...?"

Following Asahi's directions, he found the bathroom,

He knocked on the door just to check if it was occupied, and Suga opened it, wiping his mouth with a small towel. He paused in his brushing, and held the door open wider, and looked Nishinoya up and down before meeting his eyes and smirking.

"Wearing your boyfriend's clothes?" He teased, stepping over to the sink to get a line of floss. He gestured to the sink to let Nishinoya know that he could borrow whatever he wanted from there, seeing that he had a toothbrush in hand. He leaned against the sink, facing Nishinoya as he flossed.

"Shut up, Suga-san, you know Asahi-san, it's just him being thoughtful," Nishinoya said without any bite to his words. He grinned at Suga though, unable to keep the happiness hidden. Suga finished and threw the floss away, and then ruffled Nishinoya's hair as he left.

"You two are adorable," he said. "And I'm really happy that everything's worked out for you so far," he said pausing, with his hand on the door. With a final look behind, he said: "Good night," and then left.

Nishinoya continued to brush his teeth. When he was done, he wandered back into the living room to find the lights off. He picked his way over to Asahi by the light of his phone, and drawing the covers back, slipped in, as Asahi moved over. Asahi did something on his phone and then put it off and turned to face Nishinoya, lying on his side.

"I just set the alarm," he said by way of explanation.

"Ah, ok. You didn't need to though, tomorrow's Saturday. I'm pretty sure nobody is going to be up early," Nishinoya said, lying on his side too.

"Oh ok, do you want me to turn it off then?" Asahi asked worriedly.

"No, no, it's ok. What I do want though, if you're okay with it, is to cuddle," Nishinoya asked, daring Asahi to refuse or call him unmanly or something.

"Oh, sure," Asahi said, moving forward and his arms encircled Nishinoya, as Nishinoya's arms went around his in return, just like they would if they would hug. Nishinoya snuggled into Asahi's chest, immersing himself in his boyfriend's warmth.

After a moment, Nishinoya leaned back. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize how stuffy this was going to be. Do you want to change positions?"

Asahi chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking to. I'm not used to sleeping with anyone else in the same bed," he confessed.

"You'd better not be," Nishinoya said, turning around and making himself the little spoon. He pulled Asahi's hand over his stomach and moved the blankets down to let in more air so that it would be less stuffy. "I'm not used to sleeping with anyone else in the same bed either."

Asahi smiled into the back of Nishinoya's neck and nuzzled him.

"Goodnight, Nishinoya," he murmured.

"'Night, Asahi-san."

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

"Aw, look at those two, that's so cute!" Suga said, discreetly snapping a picture of the cuddling Asahi and Nishinoya the next morning. 

Daichi grumbled into his miso soup.

"After all my warnings, if that's not obvious I don't know what is. How has Tanaka not noticed anything?" he asked.

Suga snapped a picture of Tanaka too, for blackmail purposes. Or for sentimentality. Who knows.

"Maybe he has and he doesn't recognize it for what it is? You know, he and Nishinoya were pretty obsessed with Shimizu for most of their school life. Maybe he can't imagine Nishinoya liking any other girl, much less another guy," Suga said, joining Daichi at the table.

"Maybe that's true. For Nishinoya's sake, I hope he comes to acknowledge their relationship. It'd be a pity if this ruined their friendship or his relationship with Asahi," Daichi said, sipping a spoonful of his soup.

"Yeah," Suga said, laying his head on Daichi's shoulder. He laced his hand with Daichi's left on his thigh and squeezed it reassuringly, happy that they had been able to continue their relationship so far in relative bliss. Daichi turned his head and dropped a soft kiss on Suga's head.

"Ah," came a voice from the doorway. It was Asahi, looking unsure if someone (namely Daichi) was going to rain hell down on him for intruding on their moment. Suga muffled his smile into Daichi's shoulder, feeling him twitch before he sighed, and said: "Come in already, you bearded creeper. Stop hanging out in people's doorways."

"Ah, sorry," Asahi said, coming towards them hesitantly. 

"Ah," Suga said lifting his head from Daichi's shoulder. Asahi froze. Suga pointed to the saucepans on the stove. "There's some miso soup there if you want. And hot water in the heater beside it if you'd like to make yourself tea. The teabags are in the drawer below it."

"Ah, thanks," Asahi said, inclining his head, being shuffling over to do just that. Coming back to the table, he sat down and looked between Daichi and Suga as if he wanted to say something but was not sure it was welcome.

Daichi sighed. "Spit it out, Asahi."

"Oh," Asahi looked surprised. He cradled his bowl between his hands as he blew on it. "I just wanted to say congratulations to you too."

Daichi opened his mouth to say something just be contrary when Suga kicked him in the shins and shut him up.

"Thank you, Asahi," he said, with a warm smile. Daichi shot both of them a dark look and rubbed his shins.

They drifted into a quiet conversation about the current Karasuno team, and now that Ennoshita was graduating soon, they wondered who would be the new team captain.

They were interrupted by a knocking on the front door, and Suga got up to investigate. He returned with Iwaizumi and Oikawa in tow.

Asahi turned to see who it was and immediately turned awkward, following the newcomers with wide eyes. Iwaizumi nodded at Asahi as he came in, going "’morning?", which Asahi reciprocated timidly. Oikawa followed, waving cheerily at everybody before he draped himself over Iwaizumi, who had taken a seat beside Daichi and set two cups of tea down in front of him, one for himself and the other for Oikawa.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Oikawa asked, appropriately one of the mugs.

"Kara-" Suga began, and nearly stopped, seeing Iwaizumi shoot him a wild look, before continuing with "-suno", grinning evilly in realization. Iwaizumi just hung his head in resignation.

"Hmph," Oikawa huffed with a pout, slouching on Iwaizumi like a log, his head on top of Iwaizumi's. It was a wonder he hadn't slid right down to the floor. Iwaizumi's hair must have had a lot of friction to keep him up like that.

"You guys are lucky, aren't you? All these cute kouhais coming to visit you," Oikawa said, long-windedly.

"I'm not a-" Asahi began, but was cut off by a big sigh from Oikawa.

"Why don't any of our cute kouhai visit us, Iwa-chan? Didn't I instill a sense of pride in them, being such a good setter _and_ a good captain? Shouldn't they come to thank me for leaving behind such a legacy?" Oikawa complained, arms crossed on the top of the back of Iwaizumi's shoulders where he was leaning.

Suga sipped his tea calmly, unmoved by the dramatics.

"Iwa-chaaaaaaan, you're all I have left! Console me!" Oikawa said at last and flung his arms around Iwaizumi's neck, and nearly knocking over everybody's tea. Fortunately, this was a table full of volleyball people with decent reflexes.

Oikawa was still sobbing into Iwaizumi's neck, when a sleepy Nishinoya wandered into the kitchen, rucking up his shirt to reveal a smooth stomach as he scratched at his chest.

"Asahi-san, where did you-oh hoy!" He yelped, dropping into some strange martial arts pose when he noticed Iwaizumi and Oikawa.

Oikawa lifted his head to look tearfully at the newcomer, which only resulted in him going "no-hoooo, cute talented kouhai, Iwa-chan, whyyyyyyy?" And burying his head with renewed vigor and sadness into Iwaizumi's already damp shirt.

"I'm sorry about this guy," Iwaizumi said. "He usually reserved the theatrics for friends and family, and I guess you're part of that group now. Sorry you had to find out this way."

Nishinoya looked surprised, then considering. Then, apparently reassured by Iwaizumi's words, he continued with his original intention, which was to hug Asahi from the back and nuzzle into his back with a 'good morning Asahi-san'. He popped up briefly to wish the same to Suga and Daichi, and nod at Iwaizumi in turn, before going back to laying his cheek on Asahi's back, enjoying his warmth.

"Uh, Nishinoya, shouldn't you be concerned about Tanaka waking up and walking into to you and Asahi being all friendly?" Suga asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"Nope," Nishinoya said. "Ryuu sleeps like the dead after he drinks. And when he does wake up, we're going to know, trust me." He flashed them a thumbs up from behind Asahi's back. 

Then the conversation drifted back to volleyball, and at some point in time, Asahi and Nishinoya switched places and breakfast appeared mysteriously in front of Nishinoya, who, not being someone who looked a gift horse in the mouth, began eating like a man starved. Asahi curled his body around him and looked fond.

Oikawa had toned down the hysteria by now, and was currently occupied with trying to get Iwaizumi to feed him an orange.

After observing Oikawa and Iwaizumi battle it out with Oikawa going "Iwa-chan, another! Another!" while flailing and Iwaizumi going, "Shut it, Oikawa, you've had enough!" while trying to keep him away with his elbow, Nishinoya said, quite seriously, with his chopsticks pointed for dramatic effect: "So, you two have been best friends for a long time, right?"

The battling duo paused and looked at him.

"Yes," Iwaizumi said.  Oikawa gasped in happiness at the unexpected honesty. Then Iwaizumi added: "unfortunately" and smirked at Oikawa, slipping a slice of orange in his mouth right after to add fuel to the fire. Oikawa contented himself with simply swatting him, more interested in Nishinoya's unexpected line of questioning.

"Have you ever tries calling each other by your first names? I mean, me and Ryuu have only known each since high school, but we're cool with calling each other by our first names. I mean Ryuu prefers me calling me Noya, but that's a whole other thing," Nishinoya said, waving it off. He leaned forward: "So? Have you tried? Do you wanna try?"

Iwaizumi looked at Oikawa who slid back into a confident pose. He shrugged and turned to Nishinoya. "I'm game."

"Me too,  _Hajime_ ," Oikawa said with a smirk.

"Back atcha, _To-_ to-," Iwaizumi struggled. Oikawa's smirked grew wider.

"Having trouble there, _Hajime-kun_?" He sneered.

"Shut up, Tooru," Iwaizumi replied, blandly. He popped another orange slice in his mouth.

Oikawa's eyes widened.

"Yo-you-" he said, seething.

"What?" Iwaizumi asked, sucking on the next slice. A little bit of juice dribbled down his chin. Oikawa's hand twitched below the table, out of sight. Iwaizumi simply smirked and wiped off the juice with his thumb, sucking on it after so as not to let the juice go to waste. And for other more sexual reasons of course. "Having trouble thinking there, Tooru-kun?"

"Shut up, Hajime- _chan._ "

"Oooh, belittling me now, huh? Why, am I bothering you  _Tooru-sama_?"

Oikawa was seething openly now. Or so it seemed.

"Huh," Nishinoya said to himself. Then, looking up at Asahi, he said: "Guess that's what foreplay looks like for some couples."

“Nishinoya!” Asahi cried, burying his burning face in Nishinoya’s hair. Nishinoya giggled and sipped his tea.

“So, what about you, Sawamura? Feel like calling Suga by his first name any time soon?” Iwaizumi asked, currently being hugged tightly by Oikawa. He swatted his boyfriend’s arm until he loosened his hold.

“What?” Daichi looked surprised. “Why just me and not Suga?”

“Because I already call you by your first name, _Daichi_ ,” Suga reminded him.

“Oh,” Daichi said. “Right.”

“Do it, Dai-chan, do it!” Oikawa cheered.

“Uh, I mean, if Suga’s okay with it,” Daichi said, stalling, glancing over at Suga.

“I’m more than okay with it,” Suga replied, with a confident smirk.

Daichi sighed. “Fine,” he said, preparing himself.

“Wait, do you even know what my first name is, Daichi?” asked Suga, suddenly serious.

“Of course I know what your first name is, Su-, Koushi!” Daichi snapped, and then blushed. “Sorry.”

“Kou-chan!” Oikawa crowed.

“You said it,” Suga said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Daichi said, reciprocating that smile. “I did.”

“Aw, isn’t that cute?” Oikawa cooed, arms crossed on top of Iwaizumi’s head now. “Aren’t I awesome for helping you guys take the next step in your relationship?”

“No, because it was Iwaizumi who asked Daichi to say my name,” Suga answered honestly.

“Oh!” Oikawa said, waviing it off. “We're essentially the same person”

"Not really,” Suga replied, ignoring Oikawa's squawk of indignation. He turned to Nishinoya and Asahi. “And don’t think you two are getting away after starting this.”

“We aren’t. I already call Asahi-san, Asahi-san, what’s the problem?” Nishinoya shot back.

“Oooh!” Oikawa crowed in the background.

“Drop the -san, then,” Suga retorted. “And you,” he said, turning on Asahi. “Anything with his first name would be nice.”

“Oh,” Asahi looked startled. “Ok, um,” he turned to face Nishinoya. “Yu- _Yuu_ -san? -kun?"

“Pick one, Asahi-” Nishinoya sucked in a breath and held it. He let it out. “It feels weird, like something’s missing!” he cried suddenly.

“Of course it does, you’ve got one less syllable there,” Iwaizumi said. “It’s fine, you get used to it.”

“What do you mean ‘you get used to it’? How would you know?” Nishinoya shot back.

“Because I call Oikawa ‘Tooru’ quite often, I just call him Oikawa when he’s being particularly annoying. Which he is most of the time, don’t you even argue,” Iwaizumi warned Oikawa, seeing him gearing up with a retort. He shut up.

“You tricked us! You-” Nishinoya was suddenly cut off by an unholy groaning coming from the living room.

Everybody froze.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-what’s that?” Asahi asked, quivering.

“It’s just Tanaka,” Nishinoya said, looking around. “You guys really haven’t you been around him when he’s had a hangover before, huh?”

“We already told you we haven’t!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I foresee this fanfiction coming to a close soon, in about 3-4 chapters, even though it is just a series of vignettes. I have been attacked by other ideas lately to do with the lovely characters of Haikyuu so hopefully you'll stick around to see them in my other fanfiction.


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